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COHfRIGHT DEPOSm 



THE CHRIST OF 
THE CHURCH 

Sermons, Lectures and 
Illustrations 



BY 

J. V. COOMBS 

u 
Author of "Religious Delusions/' "Campaigning for Christ/' 
"Christian Evangelism/' "Normal Elocution/' etc. 




Cincinnati 

The Standard Publishing Company 



COPYRIGHT, 1916 
THE STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY 



/ 



^K^"" 



/ 

FEB 16 1318 

V- 

iGI,A420817 

7pp J. 



DEDICATION 

TTfO the fifteen thousand Christians that' 
I have enlisted under the banner of 
Christ this volume is affectionately dedi- 
cated as a token of love and fellowship. 

THE AUTHOR 



Contents 



PAGE 

Preface 7 

I. 
The Christ of the Church , 9 

II. 
Why the Jews Rejected Jesus 35 

III. 
Rightly Dividing the Word 51 

IV. 
What Think Ye of Christ? 58 

V, 
Moral Law and Positive Divine Law 68 

VI. 

The Basis of Christian Unity 74 

VII. 
Service 95 

VIII. 

Gorgeousness in Worship 101 

IX. 
Christian Baptism 109 

X. 

All Authority is Given unto Jesus 137 

5 



6 CONTENTS 

PAGE 

XI. 
What Must the Sinner Do to be Saved? 147 

XII. 
The Dangers of Revivalism 153 

XIIL 
The Last Salute on Evangelism 160 

XIV. 

Troubles, Real and Imaginary — A Lecture. . . 168 

XV. 
Lecture to Men 177 

XVI. 

Christ in the Home — A Lecture. 190 

XVIL 
Our Plea 200 

XVIIL 
Faith and Opinion. 213 

XIX. 

Fragments 216 

Vacant-lot Evangelism. 216 

Proof Furnished Proved 219 

The Circle Sermon 225 

The Interpolation Fallacy 228 

We Must Go Where the Denominations 

are Thickest 231 

XX. 

Illustrations and Sayings 234 



PREFACE 

I have spoken in every State and Territory 
in the Union, and preached about nine thousand 
sermons. In addition to my regular evangelis- 
tic work, I have delivered nearly one thousand 
lectures, public addresses and Commencement 
orations. About fifteen thousand people have 
been added to the church under my ministry. 
Many of these people, the best friends I have 
on earth, have urged me to give to the public 
a book of sermons and lectures. 

I have granted their request, and here offer 
this book of sermons, lectures anl illustrations. 
Through this book I hope to renew my com- 
panionship with those who are dear to me. 

J. V. Coombs. 



I. 

THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

"Christ also loved the church, and gave himself up for 
it."— Eph. 5 : 25. 

"Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house." 
—1 Pet. 2 : 5. 

The man of Tarsus, breathing threatening 
and slaughter, was on his way to Damascus, 
when Jesus appeared unto him and said, '*Why 
do you persecute me?'' '*Who are you?'' was 
the reply. **I am Jesus, whom you persecute." 
Paul was startled. When had he persecuted 
Jesus? To his wonder and amazement, he 
realized that Jesus is living and is identified 
with the church, and that to persecute the 
church is to persecute the Christ of the church. 

From that time until his death he had but 
two themes, the church, and the Christ of the 
church. He ransacked his vocabulary of words 
to find figures to exalt, adorn and beautify the 
church. In his most matchless flights of 
oratory, his theme was the church. He saw 
the church as the household of God, the whole 
family in heaven and earth, the temple of God, 
the body of Christ, the pillar of truth, and last 
the loving bride of the Redeemer. 



10 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

It dawned upon him that to ignore the 
church is to ignore the Christ of the church, 
and to persecute the church is to persecute the 
Christ. Happy are we if we see these great 
truths as Paul saw them. I have no sympathy 
with the sentiment that applauds the name of 
Christ and hisses the church. To hiss the 
church is to hiss the Christ of the church. 
Neither do I have any patience with that other 
sentiment that is often manifested in some of 
our union revivals, that a man can be a Chris- 
tian and not in the church. It is nothing un- 
usual to hear men say, *'0h, yes, I am a Chris- 
tian, but not a member of the church.'' That 
is false; every Christian on earth is in the 
church. To be a Christian is to be in the 
body of Christ, the church. To ignore the 
church is to ignore the Christ of the church, 
to neglect the church is to neglect Christ, 
and to be out of the church is to be out of 
Christ. 

The church is a divine institution, perfect 
and above criticism. The church includes all 
who are followers of Christ, and excludes all 
who are not. The word ^^church,'' in the New 
Testament, refers to all believers in Christ. 
Until Paul came exalting the church in figures, 
the divine writers referred to it merely as ''the 
church." It was not modified. 

'Tell it to the church" (Matt. i8 : 17). 



THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 11 

**Great fear came upon the church'' (Acts 

2:47). 

'*There was a great persecution against the 
church" (Acts 8:1). 

*'They assembled with the church" (Acts 
II : 26). 

''Christ also loved the church, and gave him- 
self for it" (Eph. 5 : 25). 

''Unto the angel of the church at Sardis" 
(Rev. 3: i). 

These writers do not limit or qualify the 
word "church." It was not the church of 
Christ, or Baptist, or Lutheran Church; just the 
church. Were it not for our divided condition 
it would not be necessary for us to say the 
Christian Church, or Baptist Church, or the M. 
E. Church, but merely the church. Then we 
would say the church at Danville, the church 
worshiping on Walnut Street in Cincinnati, the 
church at work on Main Street, the North Park 
Church. I am not sure but that we, as a people, 
would have less annoyance if we had used just 
the word "church" to designate this movement. 

The church includes all that the Christian 
church includes. "Christian" adds nothing to 
its meaning. But the objector will say: "Oh, 
there are other religious societies that claim to 
be churches. There would be no distinction. 
We would have to explain all the time." True, 
but do they not claim to be churches of Christ 



12 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

also? Do we not have to explain all the time 
when we say **Christian church''? The other 
religious societies limit and qualify all the time 
by saying M. E. Church, Lutheran Church, 
Presbyterian Church. They never use the word 
without qualifying it. Let them qualify it. We 
use the word without qualification. We speak 
of the church as the temple of God. Jesus pur- 
chased the church with his own blood (Acts 20: 
28). The church exhausts the Bible meaning 
of the word. The church was the kingdom of 
which the prophet foretold, that David sang 
about, that Daniel saw in a vision, and the pearl 
that the merchant sought. If we had always re- 
ferred to this current Reformation as the 
church, everybody would understand it, just as 
well as when we say the church of Christ. 

The church is a spiritual house, hence per- 
fect. It IS the body of Christ and there are no 
defects upon his body. It is the temple of God, 
and Paul says, **The temple of God is holy" — 
perfect. Jesus loved the church and gave him- 
self for it. It is *Vithout spot, wrinkle or 
blemish" (Eph. 5:25). Jesus is the Head of 
the church, hence he controls it and owns it. 
The Head is perfect and so is the body. The 
church is the bride of the Redeemer and hence 
above criticism. To criticize the church is to 
criticize the Christ. You can not separate Jesus 
from the perfect gospel, or the gospel from the 



THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 13 

perfect church. Neither Jesus nor the divine 
writers ever once criticized the church. The 
criticism was upon the angel of the church, the 
preacher. Jesus and Paul criticized severely 
the individual member and lukewarm congrega- 
tion, but no fault was found with the body of 
Christ, the church universal. 

The local church in Ephesus was not above 
criticism. We must make a distinction between 
the local congregation governed and controlled 
by men, and the church universal managed by 
Jesus. The church universal is a spiritual house, 
headquarters in heaven, and no abiding-place on 
earth. It can not transact business or own prop- 
erty. It has no authority on earth. All author- 
ity is in the Head of the church of Christ. It 
is controlled by the Master. The local congre- 
gation is managed by men, hence it may blunder 
and be criticized. All criticism made by the 
divine writer was made upon the individual or 
the local congregation. The local congregation 
at Laodlcea, like Ephesus, had become luke- 
warm and needed reproof. In that congrega- 
tion there were some saints, some who had for- 
gotten their first love, and others who had crept 
in, and had never been adopted into Christ, 
hence did not belong to the church of Christ. 

A thing may be In the body and not part of 
It. An Englishman may be In the United States 
and not a part of this government. Christ's 



14 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

disciples were in the world, but not of the 
world. The bullet in the body of Roosevelt is 
no part of his body. Poison may be taken into 
the body, but is no part of it. Food may be 
taken into the body, but is no part of it. It may 
be assimilated and become a part of the body, 
or it may decay and be cast out as waste. A 
man may be in the local congregation and yet no 
part of the church universal. Some people may 
have entered the church universal, but have lost 
their first love. They are no part of the active 
body. They may be warmed into action and 
regain their first love, or they may lie there as 
dead matter and be cast out and lost. Speak 
well of the church; it is the medium through 
which Jesus reveals to mankind his will, love 
and mercy. To ignore it is to ignore Christ. 
There is no hope for the triumph of Christi- 
anity outside of the church. 

THE RELATION OF THE CHRISTIAN TO THE 

CHURCH. 

The Christian should realize that he has 
enlisted in a mighty army, whose only purpose 
is tQ conquer the whole world for Christ. If 
we can catch the matchless vision of the church 
as Paul did, we will realize that our chief con- 
cern is to build up the church. The church is 
the mighty temple of God. Christians are 
small temples builded in the great temple. The 



THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 15 

apostle said, **Know ye not that ye are a temple 
of God?" We build houses out of brick. 
Christ builds temples out of immortal souls. 
Peter tells us that all believers are living stones, 
put into a spiritual house, the rSurch. We have 
a permit from Heaven to build up the church, 
and the Master gives us the plans, specifications 
and orders. Material in abundance is on every 
hand, but each piece of material must be 
handled singly. 

Men must be redeemed one at a time. You 
can not convert men in masses. Men can not 
be saved by battalions. You can not drive men 
into the church by squads. The living stones 
must be polished and placed in the temple with 
care. The Babylonians builded the great wall 
sixty miles in circumference around the city, but 
each stone was handled separately. Our brick- 
layers, as did the Egyptians, lay one brick at a 
time. No invention has changed the custom. 
In building this temple of God the builder must 
handle each piece of material. Some may point 
to Pentecost. Who is it that has not pointed 
to Pentecost? The Holy Roller, for his Holy 
Ghost fire; the evangelist, for his lust for num- 
bers and enthusiasm; the mystic, for his spiritual 
baptism, and the fanatic, for his frenzy — camp 
around Pentecost to justify their practice. Pen- 
tecost was no exception. Jesus and the apostles 
had prepared much material for the first temple- 



16 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

raising. Peter, James and John began the build- 
ing of the church by handling the converts one 
by one. Every convert to Christianity was bap- 
tized by one of the preachers present, and 120 
were there. 

In the Middle Ages tribes were baptized by 
battalions, and it was this rock that almost 
wrecked the ship of Zion. Under the preaching 
of Jesus and the inspired men, the individual 
was prominent. When he came from the 
wilderness two men said to him, '*Where do you 
live?" "Come and see," was the reply. There 
by night he talked to two men. To Philip he 
said, 'ToUow me." He asked lowly Nathaniel 
to come down from the fig-tree. To the poli- 
tician and officer, Matthew, he said, 'ToUow 
me." He spent the night on the hillside with 
Nicodemus, and held a long conversation with 
the two disciples on their way to Emmaus on 
the first resurrection day. 

Peter began his work by taking one man, a 
cripple, by the hand at the Beautiful Gate, 
Philip preached to the one traveler on his way 
to Africa. Paul heard one voice saying, "Come 
over into Macedonia." He preached to Lydia 
on the banks of the river, and to the jailer In 
his house. In erecting the temple of God the 
material must be handled separately. The 
preacher who spends all his time building up an 
audience, finds he has not fed the church. Build 



THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 17 

up the church, not the audience. Devices and 
display may crowd the house with the curious 
and pleasure-loving masses, but the preacher 
will wake up and find he has builded an audi- 
ence instead of a church. The popularity of the 
preacher is of more importance to some than 
the enhancement of the kingdom. The preacher 
who writes himself large and the church small 
will never build up a church. 

Building large church houses is not enlarg- 
ing the temple of the Lord. Gorgeous temples 
and extravagant display characterize paganism; 
simplicity, Christianity. The pagan temple 
in Babylon seated one hundred and twenty-five 
thousand people. Paganism shouts, '^Great is 
Diana of the Ephesians !" The Parthenon and 
Pantheon appealed to the vanity of Greece and 
Rome. Catholicism borrowed from paganism 
this ostentation and extravagance. They lavish 
millions upon the Vatican, St. Peter's, and gor- 
geous decorations. The Episcopalians copied 
the Catholics, and we ape the Episcopalians. 
The ancients tried to build a temple to the sky. 
We borrow the vanity, and point steeples to the 
sky. That is pagan. 

Years ago, as I was going down Fifth 
Avenue in New York, I heard the chimes of 
church-going bells, and saw the sun glittering 
on the gold-covered steeples. Then I realized 
that not over ten blocks from that church, which 

2 



18 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

owns over seventy million dollars' worth of 
property, there were one hundred thousand peo- 
ple — human vermin crawling in filth and steeped 
in sin — who had never seen a Bible or been in- 
side of a church. Then I said, '*Tear off the 
million dollars' worth of gold and send the 
gospel to these people." If this seventy mil- 
lion dollars, wrapped up in this one church, 
could be set free, it would erect two hundred 
good churches, employ two hundred preachers 
for twenty years, and assist in alleviating pain 
and want. The servant of Christ is to do some 
good every day. '^If any man would come after 
me, let him take up his cross daily." A servant 
of God has no right to pile up his millions by 
unlawful means, and then give a few thousands 
to a college, library or missionary society and 
think he is doing his duty. 

A man will close mortgages on the homes 
of widows, defraud the weak and corner the 
food for the poor, and, when his career of cruel 
oppression is over, will endow some college and 
think that that will pay the debt. I do not 
believe one word of it. He has never paid the 
debt that he owed to them whom he defrauded. 
Those debts are unpaid. As patriotism is the 
cloak under which scoundrels and traitors lurk, 
so charity has been the hypocrite's price of his 
soul. God will not accept indulgences. The 
priest accepts the money and forgives the sin 



THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 19 

of the giver. The man who has outraged jus- 
tice makes a large contribution to schools and 
missions, and the avaricious applaud and give 
him a passport to heaven. 

In sending his message to the church at 
Laodicea, Jesus rebuked the worldly for their 
extravagance and display. Notice this fact: he 
never condemned the church, but rebuked the 
angel of the church, who was merely the 
preacher. The criticisms were upon the min- 
ister and the members. They had forgotten 
their first love. To condemn the church is to 
condemn his bride. He rebuked the minister 
and the local congregation, not the church 
universal. 

The angel, no doubt speaking for the church 
of Laodicea, said, **I am rich, I have gotten 
riches, and I am in need of nothing.'' They had 
a great church home, paid for, out of debt, and 
had need of nothing. Ask them to have a series 
of meetings to deepen spirituality or evangelize 
the community, and they would have cried, '^We 
need not these things; we are rich; go to them 
that need help." We read of churches burdened 
with debt; here was a church burdened with 
wealth. Hear what Jesus says of the Laodi- 
cean, "Thou art wretched, poor, blind and 
naked" (Rev. 3:14-22) — so blind that they 
could not see their nakedness and tattered rags. 
If our secretaries or evangelists had visited this 



20 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

church, they would have reported it one of the 
most remarkable and marvelous churches in 
the brotherhood, and shouted praise from every 
convention hall. We see the dollar and out- 
ward appearances. Jesus saw the heart. These 
Laodicean brethren had everything but Christ. 
Lacking Christ, they lack everything. He says, 
*'I stand at the door and knock/' No one let 
him in. The doors closed against him. Rastus, 
a colored brother, wanted to join a white 
church; the preacher said: '*Rastus, you take 
this to the Lord. Ask him about it and get his 
answer." The next day Rastus came back all 
in smiles, and said, *'It's all right, parson; I took 
It to the Lord and he gave me an answer." 
*'Well, what did he say?" *' Jesus said, *Never 
mind, Rastus; I myself have been trying to get 
into that church for twenty years, and I can't 
get in.' So, parson, I will just stay outside 
with Jesus." They had the door shut against 
Christ. The next sentence is one of the saddest 
in the New Testament. *'I stand at the door 
and knock; if any man hear my voice [he calls 
to them] . . . , I will come in to him, and will 
sup with him, and he with me." To be a host 
of Jesus. What a privilege! They had Jesus 
shut out. Suppose fifty men had opened the 
door and took a stand with Jesus. What would 
have been the result? Those fifty men, with 
Jesus, would have been the church at Laodicea, 



THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 21 

and these fifty men, in fellowship with Christ, 
would have excommunicated the whole congre- 
gation. If the ones excommunicated want to 
come back, all they have to do is to come back 
to the Christ and the fifty men. Campbell 
Morgan says, **One man with Christ may excom- 
municate a whole church." "Thou hast a few 
names in Sardis that did not defile their gar- 
ments: . . . they shall walk with me In white'* 
(Rev. 3:4). Those servants arrayed in white 
constituted the church in Sardis. The church 
met in the house of Philemon. When the breth- 
ren left his house, the church departed from his 
house; to remove the candlestick from the com- 
munity is to remove God's people. 

In the house of Philemon there were in all 
probability many who were not Christians, who 
came to hear the gospel message; but when the 
brethren departed, the church of Christ had 
gone out of his home. Wherever Christians 
meet for worship or work they constitute the 
church of Christian worship. If one hundred 
Democrats meet to transact business, it Is the 
Democratic party at work. We generally think 
of the church as a spiritual house, free from 
organization. Where organization, combina- 
tion and office-seeking begin, simplicity and 
brotherly love go out. The local church has 
organization and officers; whenever the mem- 
bers of the body of Christ begin to exercise 



22 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

authority, departure from the old path begins. 
In that Laodicean congregation there were, in 
all probability, many who had attached them- 
/ selves to the assembly for personal reasons. 
These fifty Christian men, women and children 
who were obedient believers composed the 
church. If these fifty had departed, the church 
of Christ would have been removed, and one 
thousand Laodiceans might have been left, but 
the church would have gone out, the candlesticks 
would have been removed. Some people tell 
us that all religious societies are churches of 
Christ. The New Testament uses the word 
**church" with two meanings. First, the great 
universal church, in which all are Christians 
of whatever name or age in which they lived. 
Again, in reference to the local congregation. 
Paul speaks of the church of Christ and the 
local churches. When we say the Catholic 
Church, we do not use the word in a New 
Testament sense. The Catholic Church is 
neither the church universal nor the local con- 
gregation. It is, therefore, a mere hierarchy, 
not the church of Christ. It was not the church 
that murdered sixty million people in the Mid- 
dle Ages; it was the hierarchy. The church had 
nothing to do with it. 

The church of God includes all of God's 
people and rejects all who are not. All Chris- 
tians are in the body of Christ. With this 



THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 23 

understanding of the word, let us test the propo- 
sition. Can a man be a Christian and not be a 
member of Christ's church? No. Can he be 
a Christian without belonging to the Moham- 
medan Church? Yes. Therefore, the Moham- 
medan Church is not Christ's church. Can a 
man be a Christian without belonging to 
Christ's church? No. Can he be a Christian 
without belonging to the Mormon Church? 
Yes. Therefore the Mormon Church is not 
the church of Christ. Can a man be a Chris- 
tian without being a member of the Universalist 
Church? Yes. Therefore, the Universalist 
Church is not the church of Christ. Can he be 
a Christian without being a Catholic? Yes. 
Therefore, the Catholic Church is not Christ's 
church. Can a man be a Christian without be- 
longing to the Lutheran Church? Yes. There- 
fore, that church in itself is not Christ's church. 
Here is a Congregational church of one 
thousand members. Six hundred of these men 
have been taken into the family of God. These 
six hundred constitute the church of Christian 
worship, and working with the Congregational- 
ists. If these six hundred depart, they leave 
behind them four hundred Congregationalists, 
but the church of Christ has gone out from 
them. No one is a Christian who has not been 
adopted into the family of God. Let me take 
another illustration. A preacher goes to Persia 



24 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

and preaches God's word. One thousand men 
and women accept the divine message and are 
baptized into Christ. If they have done these 
things honestly, they are Christians and in 
Christ's church. They begin to work and wor- 
ship and they constitute the church of Christ 
in Persia. But another man comes among them 
and says, ^'I am a United Brethren preacher; 
we are all working for the same cause, but I 
want to organize a United Brethren church.'' 
Five hundred of the Christians only form a 
United Brethren church. Now, what are these 
five hundred who departed? They were Chris- 
tians when they departed and are Christians yet, 
but they are now United Brethren also. They 
wear two names and belong to two churches. 
They are bi-religionists. What about the five 
hundred that did not depart? They are still 
Christians only and belong to Christ's church. 
They compose a congregation. If five thousand 
congregations assembled for work and worship 
in America, they are churches of Christ only 
and not denominations. But if one thousand 
people unite with the United Brethren Church 
and are not baptized into Christ, they are 
United Brethren only. It is possible for three 
classes to exist: i. Christians and United Breth- 
ren. 2. United Brethren only. 3. Christians 
only. 

Some belong to Christ's church only, some 



THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 25 

belong to Christ's church and the United Breth- 
ren Church, and some are United Brethren only. 
As the Catholic Church is a human organiza- 
tion, a man may be a member of it and not be 
in the church of Christ. A man can get into 
Christ's body (the church) only by adoption. 
No congregation is the church of Christ unless 
it fulfills the divine pattern. 

THE CONDITION TO MEMBERSHIP IN THE 

CHURCH. 

In order to become a Christian one must 
comply with the conditions for membership. 
All governments have naturalization laws. 
Every secret society has its ritual, and the order 
of initiation must be complied with. ''Repent 
ye, and believe in the gospel" (Mark i: 15). 
''To them that believe on his name he gave 
the power to become the sons of God" (John 
1 : 12). Belief is the first condition in entering 
the church. Again Jesus says, "Whosoever shall 
confess me before men, him I will confess before 
my Father who is in heaven" (Mark 10:32). 
In giving directions he says, "Repent." Hear 
him once more. "Go ye into all the world and 
preach the gospel to every creature. He that 
believeth and is baptized shall be saved" (Mark 
16: 15, 16). Jesus says that in order to become 
a Christian one must believe, confess, repent and 
be baptized. This is the clearest and shortest 



2(> THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

ritual given to the world. In speaking of this 
process of becoming a Christian, Paul compares 
it to the laws of adoption (Rom. 8:15-17). 
He says, **If children, then heirs." There are 
two ways to become heirs — by birth and adop- 
tion. Jesus was the only begotten Son of God. 
We are children by adoption. 

Here is a man who has a little girl. He 
thinks she needs a playmate. He goes over to 
the orphans' home and gets a little boy. He 
goes before the proper authorities and adopts 
the child. On his way home he says to the boy, 
**You call me father;" he is the boy's father by 
adoption. '^You call this woman mother;" she 
is his mother by adoption. ''Call this little girl 
sister;" she is his sister by adoption. The boy 
and girl grow to manhood and womanhood. 
The father and mother die without making a 
will. How will the property be divided? 
Equally, of course. The girl is his heir by birth, 
and the boy by adoption. They are joint-heirs. 

Another man wants a playmate for his girl. 
He goes to the orphans' home, secures a boy 
and takes him home without complying with the 
laws of adoption. He says to the boy, ''Call 
me father." He is not the father of the boy 
by birth or adoption. The father and mother 
die without making a will. How will the prop- 
erty be divided? The boy will not get one 
penny, unless it is through the mercy of the girl. 



THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH Zi 

He has never been adopted. Millions of peo- 
ple, this day, claim God's promises who have 
never been adopted. God in his mercy may 
save some of them, but the promises are not for 
them. Jesus says, 'Why call me Lord and do 
not the things I say?" He says we need not 
pray, sing and tell him how much we love him, 
unless we keep his commandments. *'If you love 
me, you will keep my commandments." So sim- 
ple are the steps into the church that many 
preachers have ceased to preach them. The 
simplicity of the gospel is too common. They 
want to preach sermons that please the vain 
and worldly. 

Jesus says, *'Repent ye, and believe in the 
gospel" (Mark i: 15). Can a sinner be saved 
without believing In the gospel? No. Can he 
be saved without believing Mormonism? Yes. 
Therefore, Mormonism is not the gospel. Can 
he be saved without believing the doctrine of 
Christian Science? Yes. Therefore Christian 
Science is not the gospel. Can he be saved with- 
out believing Adventism? Yes. Then, Ad- 
ventism is not the gospel. Can a man be saved 
without believing Methodism? Yes. The 
Methodists admit it. Then, Methodism, per se, 
is not the gospel. The gospel Is the power of 
God to save men. In order to become a Chris- 
tian a man must believe In the gospel and obey 
the commandments of Jesus, believe, repent and 



28 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

be baptized. When he does these things he is 
in Christ, and formally right. He must now 
cultivate the fruit of the Spirit — ^peace, joy and 
love. In these days we hear much about a man 
being formally right and spiritually wrong; sub- 
jectively right and objectively wrong; right in 
obedience, but wrong in life. It is important to 
notice that no one is commanded to cultivate the 
fruits of the Spirit until he has been baptized 
into Christ. The apostles commanded them to 
stand fast who have been made free; now, after 
they had become Christians they were admon- 
ished to strive for peace, joy and love. The 
command to cultivate the fruits of the Spirit is 
to them who are formally right. Can a man be 
spiritual who is not in Christ? Obey, then cul- 
tivate. Be right in form and in life. No one 
has the spirit of Christ until he has put on 
Christ. God has called us to preach a full gos- 
pel. Martin Luther was called of God to 
preach to the Catholics, John Wesley was sent 
to reform Episcopalianlsm, and we are called to 
preach to the denominations. Luther would 
have been a recreant unless he went where the 
Catholics were the thickest. We must go where 
the denominations are the most numerous. I 
am afraid many of our home and State secre- 
taries have never caught this vision. If there is 
a town of five hundred people and five churches, 
and another town of the same population and 



THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 29 

one church, we must go where the five denomi- 
nations are. One church in the town can take 
care of the religious interests of the community 
better than five. We must go there and thin out 
the five and make one. We must go where the 
denominations are the thickest. We are needed 
in Boston and Peking. We must preach to the 
denominations as well as to the heathen. Luther 
might have gone to Morocco or Finland, but he 
would have done little good. Our mission is 
not to Africa only, but to the denominations in 
America. As goes America religiously, so goes 
the world. The best way to save China is to 
make a united church in America. 

THE TRIUMPH OF THE CHURCH. 

The church will accomplish the purpose for 
which Jesus sent it into the world. To many 
people the church means nothing. Some ridicule 
It, while others look upon it as an organization 
that has outlived its usefulness. The church has 
not reached its noon. Men may scoff at it, yet 
there is more moral power in the little fingers 
of the church than there is in all other organi- 
zations on the earth. The church is the institu- 
tion through which Jesus reveals his mercy, love 
and truth. It is the mightiest force for good 
on earth, and it will triumph. 

Brilliant scholars may criticize; philosophers 
rage; dreamers imagine vain things; flags of 



30 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

republics may be torn to tatters and empires 
may crash — but the church of Christ will sit 
upon the white horse and go forth to conquer. 

The. prophet said, '*He shall not fail." 
Jesus said, **A11 power is given unto me," and 
he will use that power to demolish the enemies 
of the cross. 

But the triumph of the church has not yet 
come. Great battles are to be fought, difficul- 
ties to be removed, and obstacles to be sur- 
mounted. Vice still runs down our streets; deg- 
radation is found in garret and cellar; crime 
and lewdness are found in all high places; cor- 
ruption and fraud stalk through the land; irrev- 
erence grins at things sacred; our divorce mills 
are grinding day and night, and our homes fur- 
nish the grist; and nine-tenths of the race are in 
rebellion against the King of kings. 

As we see these mighty forces combined 
against the church we may pardon the pessimist 
for sounding the alarm. I like the pessimist, I 
admire the optimist. Both are needed. The 
pessimist is a realist, the optimist an idealist. 
The pessimist is objective, cautious and careful; 
the optimist is subjective, reckless and daring. 
The pessimist is a sentinel on the outposts 
guarding the interests of humanity; the opti- 
mist is the headlight In the world's progress. 
The pessimist sees the storm signals and re- 
mains in the harbor; the optimist says, ''We can 



THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 31 

weather the storm; launch out" The pessimist 
says, **Things are going to the bad;*' the opti- 
mist says, ''God's in his heaven, and all's right 
with the world." The pessimist sees the wrongs 
of the weak, and the woes of the oppressed, and 
the hideousness of sin, and cries for help; the 
optimist sees the stars and hears music in the 
clouds. He looks too high to see misery, want 
and woe, hence all to him is well. When France 
was on the border of destruction, Rousseau said 
there was no danger and France was a paradise. 
In a few years France was deluged in blood. 
The pessimist longs for the good old times of 
the past; the optimist says, ''Cast fogy follies 
on the dumping-ground of the past; live for the 
future." The pessimist longs for the old songs, 
hence sings : 

"How tedious and tasteless the hours 
When Jesus no longer I see." 

His theology has the same dolorousness ; he 
whines : 

"You can and you can't ; you will and you won't. 
You'll be damned if you do, and you'll be damned if you 
don't." 

The pessimist pleads for simplicity in wor- 
ship. The optimist says, "Give us brass bands, 
orchestras, a hired choir, a dandy preacher and 
a big audience," and the candlestick is removed 
from the community. The pessimist tells us 



32 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

the world is growing worse; he proves it. The 
pessimist tells us that wickedness is on the in- 
crease, and the optimist tells us that righteous- 
ness is covering the land. Both are true. There 
is more righteousness. The world is growing 
worse. Look at the east, where Christianity 
was born. Once millions of Christians were 
there. Now paganism has it all. Growing 
worse. Then Constantinople, Carthage, Alex- 
andria and all northern Africa, with the schol- 
ars of the world, were on the side of Christian- 
ity. Growing worse. In 1830 there was one 
divorce in about two hundred marriages, now 
one in thirteen. Murder, lynching, suicide, riot, 
political corruption and intoxication are increas- 
ing more than the population. The United 
States leads the world in suicides, murder and 
political corruption. 

We are growing better. Mercy is on the 
throne. Christianity enters the home of the 
poor. Cruelty will not be tolerated. Growing 
better. But why discuss it? Jesus tells us that 
long ago. He says, '*The tares and the wheat 
shall grow up together." More wheat, more 
tares. The wheat is growing larger, and the 
tares will grow larger till the end of the age. 
Paul tells us that evil will wax worse and worse. 
Evil and good will grow together until the har- 
vest, then the angels will come and take the 
business of the world in hand. Skeptics may 



THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 33 

scoff, vain men may criticize, and the ungodly 
may scorn, but the church will triumph. In the 
march of events the church has been an angel 
of mercy. 

I look, and the past rises before me in 
majestic grandeur. I see old Adam driven out 
of Eden, Joseph on the banks of the Nile, Neb- 
uchadnezzar plundering Jerusalem; by the river 
of Babylon the Jews sat down and wept when 
they remembered Jerusalem; Alexander has un- 
tied the Gordian knot; Cassius and Brutus com- 
mit suicide, and Augustus becomes universal 
emperor of all the world. Then follows the 
wilderness preacher on the banks of the Jordan. 
The year 310 A. D. is here and Constantine is 
the first Christian emperor; I see the Goths, 
Visigoths, Ostragoths and Vandals devastating 
the land. Attila, the scourge of God, with his 
million hideous-faced Huns, is sacking the Im- 
perial City. Then 476 arises above the hori- 
zon and Rome falls; the age of darkness has 
come and the fifth century closes in all its 
blackness and chaos. Next, 732 arrives and 
Charles Martel, with his hammer, drives the 
Arabs behind the Pyrenees, and Tours is made 
immortal. The eighth century closes with Char- 
lemagne as emperor. The year 121 5 is here 
and King John cries, "I am king;" the pope says, 
"I am king," but the Magna Charta came. In 
1492 the Moors are expelled from Spain; 15 17 



34 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

comes, and Luther nails his thesis to the cathedral 
in Wittemberg. Later Calvin is heard in Geneva, 
and, buffeted by the fierce Atlantic storms, the 
Pilgrims land at Plymouth rock. I hear the 
scratch of the pen and the Declaration of In- 
dependence is here, the Constitution has come, 
a new nation is born, and the world is amazed. 
The year 1799 is draped in mourning and 
Washington is laid to rest. Now we hear the 
roar of cannon, the marshaling of armies, and 
the American conflict begins. We follow the 
armies to Gettysburg, Atlanta and Richmond. 
Lee surrenders to Grant and the whole nation 
rejoices. We come to 1865 ^^^ we hear the 
hiss of the assassin's bullet; Lincoln falls and 
the world stands aghast. But you may combine 
all these events and they are not equal to that 
wonderful event when the angel announced, 
*'Unto you is born this day a Saviour, who is 
Christ the Lord.'' 



11. 

WHY THE JEWS REJECTED JESUS 

The saddest announcement that ever passed 
from earth to heaven was that Adam had sinned> 
and brought death Into the world. The sweet- 
est news that ever flew from heaven to earth 
was that Christ had come to take away sin and 
destroy death. 

At the birth of Jesus the whole world lay 
hushed in peace. In the great struggle for the 
mastery Sulla, Marius, Cassius, Brutus, Caesar, 
Antony, Cleopatra, had fought, gained, lost and 
met their fate, and at last Augustus had won the 
prize, and had become monarch of all the civil- 
ized world. 

Twenty-nine years before the coming of the 
Christ, the closing of the temple of Janus an- 
nounced that the e^rth was at peace. 

Everything, however, belonged to Rome. 
The Mediterranean was her property. Au- 
gustus was sole lord, and all nations reposed in 
peace under the shadows of the Roman eagles. 

The Jews had been a secluded people. 
Hemmed in on two sides by the deserts, on the 
third by the mountains and on the last by the 

35 



36 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

unknown sea, they were free from the idolatry 
and immorality of heathenism. The Jew mar- 
ried only a Jew. He shunned social relations 
with foreigners. He shrank back from the bar- 
barian as from one possessed of leprosy. The 
Jews deemed him wise who knew all of Ju- 
daism and nothing of heathenism. They refused 
to learn the language of the foreigner or to 
teach Hebrew to the stranger. The rabbi said 
two of the most degrading and meanest things 
to do were ( i ) to feed pigs ; ( 2 ) to study 
Greek. They lived for self alone. 

When they saw Romanism encroaching upon 
Judaism, this dislike rapidly deepened into in- 
tense bitterness. Invaders march through the 
land. Despised heathens sit upon the throne 
of David. Idols are lifted up in holy places. 
The bugles of the enemy resound from moun- 
tain to sea. Judea trembles beneath the tread 
of the Roman legions. Insolent Gentiles scorn 
the Jew in his own city. Hated Romans pollute 
the holy temple. Jewish blood flows through 
the streets of Jerusalem. Unappeasable hate 
and bitter revenge fill the heart of every Jew. 
Under these circumstances, what kind of a king 
will satisfy the Jew? 

The Jew could point back to fifteen hundred 
years of splendid history. He could tell you of 
Abraham, Moses, Joshua and Solomon. He 
could point back to kings like David, and proph- 



WHY THE JEWS R EJECTED JESUS Z7 

ets like Daniel, Now he saw his nation crum- 
bling into ruin, and darkness gathering. But 
through this darkness a ray of light penetrated. 
As the Jew had no present, he lived in the 
future. For ages he had expected the coming 
of a great Deliverer. Prophets had told of 
him. Other nations expected a new king. The 
Egyptians heard of him. The Wise-men of the 
East, the followers of Zoroaster, looked for the 
coming of a great king, to rule over Israel, 
whose kingdom would surpass that of Solomon. 
The Arabians, watching the stars by night, 
talked of the king that was to reign in Judea. 
Many rabbis thought that the Messiah had 
come and was only waiting for the conflict. 
Surely he will now come and restore Israel. 

Under these surroundings, what kind of a 
king will satisfy the Jews? They believe that 
he must be a national hero, born in a palace, 
with angels kneeling before him, the scepter in 
his hand, the sword by his side, and glory 
gleaming from his brow. He must come from 
the most illustrious parentage, glittering in celes- 
tial emblazonry. He must gird on his heavenly 
armor, order battle against the enemy, slay their 
chief captains and kings, and make the moun- 
tains and valleys run red with the blood of the 
slaughtered foe. He must be a king of revenge 
and vengeance. 

This was the Jew's conception of the coming 



38 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

Lord. But how different from their expecta- 
tions ! 

Yonder from the despised village of Naza- 
reth comes a poor carpenter and his espoused 
wife. They put their faces southward, pass the 
Holy City, cross over the valley and are now 
climbing the rocky road to the hamlet of Beth- 
lehem. Will the Jew accept such a king? 

They are now on historic ground. Here, 
seventeen centuries ago, Jacob buried his be- 
loved Rachel. Here Boaz courted and married 
Ruth. Here David sang and lived. Joseph and 
Mary take lodging in the stable. In a manger 
in this lowly place a Christ is born. 

South of Bethlehem is a valley where many 
sheep are kept for the sacrifices. The shepherds 
sleep in the open and keep watch over their 
flocks by night. ''And there were shepherds in 
the same country abiding in the field, and keep- 
ing watch by night over their flock. And an 
angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory 
of the Lord shone round about them: and they 
were sore afraid. And the angel said unto 
them. Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you 
good tidings of great joy which shall be to all 
the people : for there is born to you this day in 
the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the 
Lord. And this is the sign unto you: Ye shall 
find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, and 
lying in a manger. And suddenly there was 



WHY THE JEWS R EJECTED JESUS 39 

with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host 
praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the 
highest. And on earth peace among men in 
whom he is well pleased" (Luke 2: 8-14). 

The whole valley becomes a grand camping- 
ground for the angelic host. The shepherds no 
doubt look at each other confused. Quickly 
they leave their flocks and enter the inn, and be- 
hold the new-born King. After waiting four 
thousand years for their deliverer, will the Jews 
accept a king born under these circumstances? 

Turning toward Jerusalem, we see some 
peculiar strangers entering the city and asking, 
* Where is he that is born King of the Jews?" 
The question confuses the people. They say, 
*'Do you want to see Herod the king?" 
'Where is he that is born King of the Jews? 
for we saw his star in the east, and are come 
to worship him." 

Rapidly the news sped to Herod. Quickly 
he calls the Sanhedrin together and demands of 
them where the Christ is to be born. They say, 
"Yonder in the village of Bethlehem." 

The Wise-men, guided by the star, go and 
behold the new-born babe. Born in a manger, 
announced first to the ignorant shepherds, and 
second to the heathen, will the Jews accept such 
a king? Yes, if he will come to Jerusalem 
heralded by legions of angels, they might accept 
him. 



40 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

But lo, he is lost sight of, as far as the 
world is concerned, for thirty years. Though 
all Jerusalem and Bethlehem are excited, in 
thirty years all is forgotten. 

Yonder in the wilderness, on the banks of 
the river Jordan, stands the lowly Nazarite in 
coarse garments, crying: '^Repent, for the king- 
dom of heaven is at hand. Prepare ye the way 
of the Lord." Jesus comes all the way on foot 
from Nazareth, and demands baptism at the 
hands of John. 

John, for the first time in his life, hesitates. 
Jesus says, **Suffer it to be so now, for thus it 
becomes us to fulfil all righteousness." John 
hesitates no longer. Leading Jesus down into 
the water of the Jordan, he baptizes him. 

"And Jesus, when he was baptized, went 
up straightway from the water: and lo, the 
heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the 
Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming 
upon him; and lo, a voice out of the heavens, 
saying. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am 
well pleased" (Matt. 3:16, 17). 

Geikie says: **He went down into the water 
Jesus, the son of Mary. He came out of the 
water the Christ, the recognized Son of God." 

Quitting the banks of the river Jordan, he 
mingles with the poor at Cana, the fishermen at 
Capernaum, and hence to Jerusalem for the 
first time to attend the Passover. Will the 



WHY THE JEWS R EJECTED JESUS 41 

Jews accept him now? As Jesus enters the 
temple he hears the wild shouts of those who 
sold doves and sheep. Indignant at seeing the 
temple polluted by trade, he turns over the 
tables and scatters the money on the floor. 
Will they now accept him? 

The Jewish Passover was the most exciting 
assembly that ever met on earth. The Olympic 
games of Greece, the gladiatorial combats of 
Rome, the chariot races of Antioch, are not to 
be compared in passionate enthusiasm to the 
excitement of the Jewish Passover. 

The gathering of pilgrims from every nation 
under the sun, the meeting of friends long 
separated, the greeting of parents and children, 
the voices of one thousand singers, the fluttering 
of banners and the waving of plumes make the 
Jewish Passover the most wonderful of all 
gatherings. 

The housetops are covered over with the 
boughs of trees and afford lodging for the pil- 
grims. All houses are full, and the Mount of 
Olives is covered over with the tents of the 
pilgrims. 

Josephus tells us that between the hours of 
three and five in the afternoon, by actual count, 
256,000 lambs were slain, and not fewer than 
2,700,000 people partook of the feast. 

All day long Jesus elbowed his way through 
the crowded streets. He went healing the sick 



42 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

and encouraging the weak. For any one of 
prominence to have approached him by day 
would have brought both into unnecessary 
notoriety. 

History tells us the greatest interview ever 
held on earth was held in the river Neiman in 
Prussia. Precisely at one o'clock, amid the 
booming of cannon and the cries of the dying, 
two boats pushed off from opposite sides of 
the river. When in the middle of the river, one 
man from each boat stepped upon a raft. One 
was Alexander of Russia and the other was 
Napoleon of France. History says they met to 
settle the destiny of nations. The interview 
lasted two hours. But all the matters arranged 
by Alexander and Napoleon have been reversed 
and forgotten. 

Go back eighteen centuries, and here is an- 
other interview held by night, between Jesus 
and Nicodemus. It was held in the silence of 
the night. But this interview stands to-day, and 
is in the hearts of millions. 

After the day of excitement had passed, 
thousands press out through the eastern gates. 
No doubt Jesus passed over the slope of the 
Mount of Olives to the house of a friend, or 
perhaps to a tent, to spend the night. 

Nicodemus could not sleep till he had 
learned more about this new teacher. Leaving 
the house at night, he takes the dark streets in 



WHY THE JEWS REJECTED JESUS 43 

order to avoid discovery. Stumbling over beasts 
of burden and waking up half-sleeping pilgrims, 
he passes over Kedron and takes the zigzag 
path up to the place where Jesus was. 

He came to learn how he could aid Jesus in 
this new kingdom. He never dreamed but what 
he was a member of the kingdom. He was a 
Jew, and Jesus was the king of the Jews. Jesus 
knew his thoughts and said, ^'Verily, verily, I 
say unto you, Except ye be born of water and 
the Spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of 
heaven.'' 

This startles Nicodemus, and he became a 
silent listener while Jesus went on to explain the 
nature of his coming kingdom. He told Nico- 
demus that his kingdom was to be founded on 
love. '*God so loved the world that he gave 
his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth 
on him might not perish, but have everlasting 
life" (John 3:16). 

This interview by night closed. So far there 
has been no open conflict, but the muttering of 
the coming tempest is near at hand. On his 
way to Jerusalem Jesus enters the porch around 
the pool at Bethesda, one of the eleven pools 
in and around Jerusalem. This pool was 165 
feet long and forty-eight feet wide. It was fed 
by mineral springs, and at certain seasons these 
springs were intermittent. When the water 
from the mountain pressed down, the bubbling 



44 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

of the water was looked upon as miraculous, 
and the story went that an angel had troubled 
the waters. The fame for curative purposes 
was well known. So at special seasons many 
sick gathered here. We can see the pale-faced 
woman, or the paralytic with half of his body 
dead and praying to God that the other half 
would die, or that both together would live. 
Here are cripples, lame, blind and palsied. You 
hear the cries of many and the groans of others. 
A silent stranger enters. He selects the most 
pitiable person, an infirm man who had been 
dragging his crippled body to the pool for 
thirty-eight years. He had no friends. For 
thirty-eight years he bore the pain. Jesus looked 
upon him and says, **Wilt thou be made whole?'' 
Made whole? Why, it seems like mockery to 
ask. Why had he dragged himself there? 

The infirm man said, *'Sir, I have no man, 
when the water is troubled, to put me into the 
pool, but when I am coming another steppeth 
down before me." Jesus said, **Take up thy 
bed and walk." New life went coursing through 
his veins. He threw his matting over his arm 
and departed. When the Jews saw him carry- 
ing his bed on the Sabbath, they rebuked him, 
and he told them who had healed him. 

Such an act of tenderness should have been 
approved by all. At once the Jews accuse Christ 
of breaking the Sabbath, and they begin to plot 



WHY THE JEWS R EJECTED JESUS 45 

against him. Pharisee, Sadducee, rabbi and 
priest, forgetting their hate of one another, con- 
spire to put Jesus to death, and they never fal- 
ter in their design until, two years later, they 
see him die on Calvary. There is no crime so 
appalling but may be committed in the name of 
religion, no meanness too ghastly for religious 
hate. Pity, charity, goodness and love surren- 
der to remorseless hate, revenge and religious 
bigotry. 

In the name of religion, the Inquisition 
burned its thousands. In the name of religion, 
persecution slaughtered men and women like 
savage beasts. In the name of religion, men, 
women and children were executed for witch- 
craft. In the name of religion, pious Christians 
have been cast into dungeons, robbed of home, 
friends and light, because they would not lie and 
profess faith in creeds of men. 

Jesus quits Jerusalem, but is followed by the 
spies to Galilee. He goes on In his work of 
mercy. At his word the dead arise. With his 
command, '*Hold thy peace," the demons fled. 
The paralytic left his couch at the sound of 
*'Take up thy bed and walk." We see him 
raising the dead, healing the sick, cleansing the 
leper, walking on the sea, weeping at the grave 
of Lazarus, and mingling with the poor. 
Driven from Bethlehem by the wrath of a sus- 
picious king, expelled from Nazareth by those 



46 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

who should have been his friends, rejected in 
Capernaum, denied the three homes of his 
birth, residence and adoption, he now comes to 
Jerusalem to die. Will the Jews accept him 
now? 

As he passes Jericho the blind man was 
healed. Bartimeus had gone out here day after 
day to beg alms. No doubt he had heard of 
Jesus. Some one had told him to call upon the 
wonderful prophet. 

See him coming out of the city, feeling his 
way along the stone wall. He pauses, turns his 
sightless eyeballs upward, listens. He hears the 
tramp of feet and the shout of the multitude. 
He asks what that means. The answer came, 
"Jesus of Nazareth passeth by." At the sound 
of his name Bartimeus rushed forward and 
said, '*Thou Son of David, have mercy upon 
me." Quickly his eyes were opened and he fol- 
lowed the throng. 

Zaccheus climbs into a tree only to hear the 
welcome words, *'Come down; I will abide in 
thy house." On his way to Jerusalem to be 
crowned, yet Jesus has time to encourage sin- 
ners. 

When he enters Jerusalem the multitude is 
wild with enthusiasm. Perhaps even yet, if he 
had come out on the porch of the temple and 
proclaimed himself king, the Jews would have 
accepted him. But he turned away from the 



WHY THE JEWS REJECTED JESUS 47 

temple and took his twelve unlettered Galileans 
out to the slope of the Mount of Olives. Then 
he said, **Tarry here until I go and pray." 
Taking his beloved trio, Peter, James and John, 
he went a little space farther and said to them, 
'^Watch." He went yonder and prayed; when 
he returned he found them sound asleep. What 
a picture for an artist! The Son of God ago- 
nizing in the garden, while his disciples sleep. 
On his return the third time he said, "Sleep on 
now," and in the very next sentence, *'Arise, let 
us be going." Sleep on to the past. Arise as to 
the future. 

Jesus had made war on the teachings, tra- 
ditions and customs of the Jev/s. He calls them 
blind guides and hypocrites. His teachings, if 
accepted, will destroy their entire system of 
religion. They plan now to kill him instead of 
following him. All hope of reconciliation Is 
now gone. He is accused, tried, sentenced, 
dressed in a mock robe, and spit upon. Yet he 
murmured not. He could have called legions 
of angels to his aid, but he never used his miracu- 
lous power for his own benefit. He hungered in 
the mountain, yet he fed the multitude. See 
him now, forsaken by all, scorned, buffeted and 
led out to be crucified. 

See him on the cross. He murmurs not. In 
his agony he says, ^'Father, forgive them." He 
asks for one drop of water. This is rejected. 



48 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

The earth trembles and the sun refuses to shine 
upon such a scene. 

We now follow him to the grave. He has 
been conquered. Rome seems victorious. He 
is dead. He seems to be weaker than Jewish 
law and not able to combat Roman authority. 
His disciples are scattered, and the Jews have 
accomplished their designs. They will never 
accept the teachings of the one they put to 
death. The disciples are discouraged. See 
them scattering. They had seen their Master 
die, knew he was buried, and all is lost. Peter 
said, ^*I go fishing." They once had a Lord, 
now he is dead. 

Yonder, out of the western gate, go two 
disciples. They are on their way to their homes 
in the little village of Emmaus, eight miles west 
of Jerusalem. The path over which they must 
pass is the most dreary and desolate of all that 
lead out of the city. They must pass over two 
miles of barren earth and naked slabs of rocks. 
Having passed over this rocky platform, they 
reach the top of the ridge, and take the last 
look at the beloved city, and brush away a tear 
as they think of all they have suffered and lost. 
While on the journey they said, 'We thought 
he was to redeem Israel.'' 

As they journeyed on, a stranger came up. 
They were so busy with their sad thoughts that 
they did not notice the stranger. The Saviour 



WHY THE JEWS R EJECTED JESUS 49 

saw their faces were sad and their hearts were 
sorrowing. He entered into conversation with 
them as all three walked on. They heard his 
footsteps as their own. When he explained the 
Scriptures, "their hearts burned within them." 

The sun has gone down behind the gray hill- 
tops; daylight is changing into twilight, and 
magic twilight into darkness, when they arrive 
at the village. As the shadows are gathering 
around them they say to the stranger, "Abide 
with us." Well that they asked him, for Jesus 
only dwells with us when we ask him. 

The three strangers sit down in this lowly 
cottage and bread is brought. The mysterious 
stranger lifts his hand and breathes the blessing, 
when suddenly the two disciples are startled; 
perhaps they see the prints of the nails in his 
hands and hear his words. It is he, the risen 
Lord, and they have been walking with him all 
the way. Their sadness is turned to joy. They 
are ready to fall at his feet, when suddenly he 
vanishes. No doubt they wonder, but at once 
they decide to go back to the city, through the 
darkness of the night, and tell the brethren the 
glad tidings of great joy. 

The journey backward is an easy one, for 
they carry news of the greatest victory ever 
won — victory over death. They hasten over 
the valley and rocky roads. They pass through 
the gates without trouble, for during the Pass- 



50 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

over all gates are open. They hasten on. Oh, 
they are anxious to be the first to tell the good 
news. On they run, but when they are entering 
the temple they hear the apostles shouting, *'The 
Lord has risen, and appeared unto Simon." 
The glad news had outrun them. Quickly they 
enter the temple and the doors are locked. 
They had scarcely finished telling their wonder- 
ful story, when, behold! they are terrified! The 
doors are locked, but there stands their Master. 
In the hush of silence they hear the voice of 
their Master, saying: ''Peace be unto you." 
The first announcement to the shepherds in the 
valley was "Peace." When the storm came on 
the lake, Jesus said, "Peace." Now he comes 
from the grave and his first utterance is 
"Peace." 

Yonder on the mountain he gives to the 
chosen disciples the last instruction. Standing 
on the mountain, he takes the last fond look at 
his disciples and says, "All power Is given unto 
me in heaven and in earth." The Jews will 
never accept such a king. 



III. 

RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH 

Paul admonished Timothy to rightly divide 
the Word of truth (2 Tim. 2: 15). 

If the Word of truth were properly divided, 
Adventism, Mormonism, and other follies, 
would disappear. Many can see no difference 
between the law and the gospel; the Old and 
the New Covenant, Christ and Moses, the new 
and the old dispensations. God has made three 
covenants with man. The fleshly covenant was 
made with Abraham. If their people kept the 
fleshly covenant (circumcision), they were to 
be heirs of Abraham. The property covenant 
was made with Moses. The Jews kept that 
covenant. Jesus made the spiritual covenant 
with us; by keeping that we are heirs of God. 

After preaching on ''The Three Covenants," 
in a Southern city, a woman came to me and 
said: ''I don't believe what you said. You told 
us all the Bible is not binding upon us. I believe 
the Bible is binding upon me from the beginning 
to the end." I replied, *'You don't believe 
that." She said, 'T do." I said, 'Tou don't," 
and that is a fair religious argument. I said to 

51 



52 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

her, ''Now take your Bible and read Gen. 17: 
10-14/^ She read that God commanded every 
male child to be circumcised at eight days of 
age. I asked her if she had any boys. She in- 
formed me that she had four. I said, ''How 
many of them have you circumcised?*' She re- 
plied, "Not one." I said, "How do you get 
around this duty if the whole Bible is binding on 
you from beginning to the end?" She said, 
"Well, well, well, I never thought of that." I 
continued: "Read Lev. 1 1 : 7, 8. It tells you not 
to eat swine. You had pork for dinner. How 
do you get around that difficulty?" She replied, 
"Well, well, well." "God commands the offer- 
ing of bloody sacrifices (Lev. 23:19, 20). 
How many have you offered?" She replied, 
"Not any." "How do you get out of this 
trouble?" She gave me the same answer, 
"Well, well, well, I never thought of it that 
way." "God commanded that you should do no 
work on Saturday; if you picked up sticks to 
build a fire, you would die. Did you ever pick 
up sticks to build a fire on Sabbath?" "Oh, 
yes, I must, or I would die," she replied. "How 
do you reconcile the breaking of this command- 
ment?" She gave me the same answer. I con- 
tinued: "Go with me to the New Testament; 
John 13 enjoins upon us to wash feet Have 
you been washing the saints' feet?" She gave me 
the same answer. "Now read i Thess. 5 : 26. 



RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD 53 

Paul tells us to greet the brethren with a kiss. 
Have you been kissing the brethren this year?'' 
*'0h, no, I could not do such things as that." 
'*How, then, do you get out of the practice if 
you believe that all the Bible is binding upon 
you?" She replied, **Well, I never thought of 
it in that way." 

What was the trouble with the woman? 
Just what troubles half of the religious world — 
not knowing how to rightly divide the Word 
of truth. The first seven commandments I 
gave her were Jewish laws and had no binding 
force upon any one except the Jews. The other 
seven were merely custom, and custom has no 
binding force. Paul told a few shaved-headed 
women in Corinth to keep silent in that as- 
sembly. He never commanded women of this 
age to keep silent. 

We must make a distinction between the law 
and the gospel, the Old and the New Covenant, 
Christ and Moses. 

There are three great dispensations in the 
Bible — the Patriarchal, Jewish and Christian. 
Under the Patriarchal we have the family, 
under the Jewish the state, and under the Chris- 
tian the church. We are not under the law, 
but the gospel. 

The whole Jewish law was nailed to the 
cross, and hence has no binding force upon us. 
The Ten Commandments were defective. A 



54 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

man may keep the Ten Commandments and be 
lost. 

But here comes the objector, and he says, 
"If the Ten Commandments are gone, can a 
man lie, steal and murder, and not sin?" How 
foolish this question. It was a sin to murder 
before Moses gave the Ten Commandments. 
It would have been a sin if Moses had never 
given the commandments. Moses merely put 
the Ten Commandments into the Jewish law and 
fixed a penalty. As the penalty has been re- 
moved the law is dead. The Decalogue, as a 
code, is abolished. Many of these laws have 
been enacted into the New Covenant and hence 
are binding. In Indiana we had the old consti- 
tution till 1 85 1. Then our new constitution 
came into effect. Many of the laws in the old 
constitution were put in the new. They are 
binding upon us, not because they were in the 
old, but because they were enacted into the new. 
Nine of the Ten Commandments have been en- 
acted in the New Covenant and are hence bind- 
ing. The Fourth Commandment, '^ Remember 
the sabbath day," is not re-enacted, and hence 
is not binding. Under this dispensation we are 
never commanded to keep the Sabbath. The 
Sabbath was a Jewish institution and hence not 
binding upon a Christian. The penalty for vio- 
lation of the Sabbath was physical death (Ex. 
35:2). To pick up sticks was a violation 



RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD 5S 

(Num. 15:32-36). The Sabbath was the 
seventh day, or Saturday. It was, Is and al- 
ways will be Saturday. To call Sunday, the 
first day of the week. Sabbath, is as ludicrous 
as to say, **A Wednesday night prayer-meeting 
on Thursday afternoon." No divine writer 
or sacred historian ever called the first day of 
the week Sabbath. It is not the Sabbath; it is 
the Lord's Day. Not a day of idleness, but a day 
of devotion and service. Now, don't go out and 
misrepresent me. We believe in commemora- 
ting the Lord's Day. We are intensely opposed 
to the desecration of this day. This is a day 
of worship, service, prayer and devotion, not a 
day to visit, idle away or spend in worldliness. 
Give it to the Lord. 

Some say: ''Can I not be saved like the thief 
upon the cross? Jesus said to the poor woman, 
'Thy sins be forgiven thee.' Can I not be 
saved in the same way?" No, certainly not. If 
they were saved in heaven, they were saved 
under the Jewish dispensation; Jesus had not 
made his will. Now, I will illustrate this so 
plain that the boys and girls can understand me, 
and then I will simplify it till their mothers and 
the preachers can comprehend It. 

Here Is a man with six children. He wills 
to one $4,000; to another, $4,500; to the third, 
$3,500, and to the remaining three, $3,000 
apiece. One of the boys meets with some ca- 



56 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

lamity, gets married or meets with some injury. 
The father gives him $i,ooo. Has he any 
right to do it? Why, certainly; the testator is 
alive. He can dispose of his property as he 
likes. Another boy starts into business; he gives 
him $500. Any way to prevent it? No, the 
testator is alive; he can destroy or change his 
will at his pleasure. But finally the father lies 
down and dies; how can the children gain the 
blessings of the will? By complying with the 
conditions of the will. Suppose some one tries 
to get part of the estate without complying 
with the will, what is he trying to do? He is 
trying to break the will of his father. Again, 
the will may contain the condition that noth- 
ing may be added or taken away from it. If 
any attempt to change the will, he will disin- 
herit the one who makes the attempt. 

When Jesus was here on earth he had not 
sealed his will. All authority was his. He 
could heal the sick, raise the dead, and offer par- 
don to any one. But finally he made his will 
and sealed it with his own blood. Then the 
executors made known the terms of the will. 

Now, how shall any one secure the blessings 
of the will? Every one Is ready to answer, 
''By complying with the terms of the will." 
Suppose some one tries to get into Christ with- 
out complying with the conditions. What is he 
trying to do? He is attempting to break the 



RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD 57 

will of Jesus. Jesus said: ''If a man tries to 
climb up any other way, he is a thief. Why 
call me Lord and do not the things that I say?" 

Many are trying to get into the kingdom 
without complying with Christ's will. The 
terms of the will were made known to the 
apostles. These terms are belief, repentance 
and baptism, and a life of service. If a sinner 
wants to know what to do to be saved, let him 
go to the New Covenant. 

The Book of Acts gives the history of fif- 
teen hundred conversions, and they are all alike. 
Every man that ever entered the order of the 
Oddfellows complied with the same ritual that 
all the others did. All foreigners that have be- 
come citizens of this country have complied 
with the same law. Every man that has entered 
into Christ has complied with the same ritual. 
The law of adoption must be complied with by 
all. 



IV. 

WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? 

"What think ye of the Christ? whose son is he?" — • 
Matt. 22 : 42. 

The Jewish Passover was the most match- 
less assembly that ever met on earth. Josephus 
says: **Between the hours of three and five in 
the afternoon, by actual count, 256,000 lambs 
were slain for the sacrifice, and 2,700,000 peo- 
ple partook of the feast." Yonder they come — 
from the banks of the historic Euphrates, from 
the classic shores of the Dead Sea, from old, 
dried-up Egypt; the Orient and the Occident are 
all here. Yonder come mothers and fathers, 
greeting the children after long absence; stran- 
gers looking for the first time upon the wonder- 
ful temple. Yonder come one thousand priests, 
singing their hymns, fluttering their banners and 
waving their plumes. 

All day long Jesus mingled with the mad- 
dened multitudes. He went about healing the 
sick, cleansing the lepers and encouraging the 
despondent; yet the Sadducees and Pharisees 
conspired to destroy him. They tried in every 
way to trap and confuse him. The Sadducees 

58 



WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST 59 

asked in regard to the woman who had seven 
husbands, **Whose wife will she be?" Jesus 
answered that in the resurrection there is neither 
marrying nor giving in marriage. Seeing he 
had put the Sadducees to flight, the Pharisees 
asked, "Which is the greatest commandment in 
the law?" The Master replied: "Thou shalt 
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with 
all thy soul and with all thy mind. The second 
is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as 
thyself." He had defeated both. Trying to en- 
tangle him, the Pharisees formed a combination 
with the Herodians and asked, "Is it lawful to 
give tribute to Caesar?" If he had said "Yes," 
all the Jews would have abandoned him. If he 
had said "No," he would have been in rebellion 
against Rome. Say "Yes" and have no friends. 
Say "No" and be put to death. He replied, 
"Whose image and superscription is on the 
coin?" They replied, "Caesar's." Then he sent 
the dagger of criticism to the heart, "Render 
unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, and render 
unto God that which is God's." Pay your taxes 
and don't complain, then do your duty toward 
God. They were silent. Jesus then became 
the questioner. He asked, "What think ye of 
the Christ? whose son is he?" They gave the 
schoolboy's answer. Every Jewish boy was 
taught that the coming Lord would be the son 
of David, so they said, "The son of David." 



60 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

Then the question, **How then does David call 
him Lord?'' They dare not answer according 
to their own prophets, and from that day they 
asked him no more questions. They attempt 
argument no more, but will now resort to force. 
From that time till his death upon the cross 
Jesus was constantly under the eyes of spies. 

What think ye of Christ? What do the his- 
torians say? Jean Paul Richter says: "The life 
of Christ concerns Him who is mightiest among 
the holy, and holiest among the mighty." Napo- 
leon says: **Jesus has builded a kingdom upon 
love that shall survive all other empires." The 
centurion said: **Surely this is the Son of God." 
Pilate says: "I find no fault in him." Thomas 
said: '*My Lord and my God." Peter declared 
that Jesus was '*the Christ, the Son of God." 
I am interested in what historians, his enemies 
and his friends have to say of Christ, but what 
do you think of him? 

The story of Christ comes to us not by tra- 
dition, but by the historical evidence of faithful 
witnesses. Marcus Dods says: "In point of 
fact, the majority of events of past history are 
accepted on much slenderer evidence than that 
which we have for the resurrection. The evi- 
dence we have for It is of precisely the same 
kind as that on which we accept ordinary events; 
It IS the testimony of persons concerned, the 
simple statement of eye-witnesses and of those 



WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST 61 

who were acquainted with eye-witnesses. In 
short, the evidence can be refused only on the 
ground that no evidence, however strong, could 
prove such an incredible event. It is admitted 
that the evidence would be accepted in any other 
case, but this reputed event is in itself incredible. 
This seems to me quite an illogical method of 
dealing with the subject. The supernatural is 
rejected as a preliminary, so as to bar any con- 
sideration of the most appropriate evidence of 
the supernatural. So long as the miracles of 
our Lord are not recognized as an essential part 
of his revelation, so long will they be felt to be 
a hindrance, and not a help, to faith. But Jesus 
evidently considered miraculous works of heal- 
ing an essential element in his work, and who- 
ever feels uneasy about the miraculous, and 
fancies that perhaps it would be well to yield 
the point and surrender miracles, must be look- 
ing at the matter with very different eyes from 
which our Lord viewed it." 

These men — Peter, James, John, Luke and 
others — were witnesses to be trusted. They 
had no inducement to tell a false story. They 
could not have been mistaken. Professor Orr 
says: *'It is to be remembered that the apostles, 
with numerous other eye-witnesses, lived for 
years together at Jerusalem, continuously en- 
gaged in the work of instruction; that during 
this period they were in constant communication 



62 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

with each other, with their converts and with the 
church which they founded; that the witness 
which they bore necessarily acquired a fixed and 
familiar form; and that the deposit of the com- 
mon tradition which we have in the Gospel, has 
behind it, in its main features, all the weight of 
this consentient testimony — is therefore of the 
highest value as evidence." 

Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, Mary 
Magdalene, and many other infallible witnesses, 
bore testimony of the resurrection of our Lord. 

A. N. Gilbert gives a very excellent sum- 
mary of the appearances, which follows: "The 
tomb was opened by an earthquake, and the roll- 
ing away the stone Sunday morning (Matt.), 
visit of the women (all four). Mary Mag- 
dalene receives the message for the disciples 
(Matt., Luke and John). He appears to other 
women (Matt., Mark and Luke). Peter and 
John visit the tomb and find it empty (Luke and 
John). Mary Magdalene sees Jesus (Matt, 
Mark and John). Mary Magdalene tells the 
disciples (Mark and John). The guards report 
to the chief priest (Matt). He appears to 
Peter (Luke and i Cor.). The walk to Em- 
maus (Luke). He appears to the ten after the 
return from Emmaus (Mark, Luke and John). 
Seven days later he appears to the eleven 
(John). He appears to the disciples in Galilee 
(Matt and John). And again in Jerusalem 



WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST 63 

(Luke and Acts). The appearance of his as- 
cension (Mark, Luke and Acts). And last of 
all, he appeared to Paul (i Cor.). Although 
no one saw his resurrection, the circumstantial 
evidence is so complete that no room is left for 
doubt." 

Men have their lives written after they die. 
The life of Jesus was written fifteen hundred 
years before he was born; written in prophecy; 
read by Greek, Roman and Jew. Five hundred 
prophecies refer to Jesus. About 105 times the 
Old Testament tells us what Jesus would do; 
105 times the New Testament tells us that these 
things were done. The one — the Old Testa- 
ment — was prophecy. The other — the New 
Testament- — was biography. Prophecy is his- 
tory before it occurs. 

PROPHETIC ARROWS. 

Suppose five men would stand here to-night, 
each with a quiver of ten arrows. They desire 
to shoot the arrows into the center of the target. 
They do not know where the target is. It may 
be here, yonder or there. Man No. i stands 
at a station fifteen hundred yards from the tar- 
get. He sends his ten arrows out into the 
darkness. Man No. 2 advances and stands at 
a station one thousand yards from the target. 
He sends his arrows out into the inky blackness. 
No. 3 stands eight hundred yards, and No. 4 



64 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

six hundred yards from the target. No. 5 and 
last advances and stands but four hundred yards 
from the target. They send their arrows for- 
ward. You call for lights, and all fifty arrows 
are in the center of the bulFs-eye. What would 
you say about such an occurrence? You would 
say such a thing could not take place by chance. 
Let us call up a few prophetic arrows. 

Moses stands fifteen hundred years from the 
coming of the Lord. He sends his arrows into 
the future, which is inky blackness. He tells us 
that Jesus will be a prophet like unto Moses. 

David advances, and, standing yonder one 
thousand years from the birth of Christ, sends 
forward three hundred prophecies. What won- 
derful things he says ! He tells us that while on 
the cross Jesus would cry: '^My God, my God, 
why hast thou forsaken me?'' 

Then Isaiah, Daniel and Malachi, at differ- 
ent stations, send their arrows into the future. 
We call for lights, and there are five hundred 
prophetic arrows centered in Jesus. No skeptic 
has ever tried to answer this argument. Chris- 
tianity is the only religion that appeals to proph- 
ecy for its authenticity. Remember, these proph- 
ecies were read not only by the Jews, but by 
Roman, Greek and barbarian. The place of 
Christ's birth, the manner of his life, and the 
suffering on the cross, were all read long before 
he walked the earth. 



y 



WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST 65 

What do you think of Christ as a helper? 
When here on earth he went about aiding peo- 
ple. He fed five thousand, and encouraged the 
despondent and had compassion on the needy. 

What do you think of him as a comforter? 
When he sojourned on earth he comforted 
Mary and Martha in their sorrow; he said, 
**Weep not.'' He is the same great comforter. 
He will comfort you with his promises and 
with his word. 

While in California a little girl was killed 
by a horse running away. Bro. H. D. Connell 
was asked to conduct the funeral. He said to 
me: *'I just can not preach that funeral. These 
are very dear friends and this is the only child. 
It will break the heart of the mother. You 
must preach; I will just read the lesson." I 
consented. Brother Connell had read but a few 
verses when the mother's mind gave way. The 
glare of the eye showed that the mind was 
wavering. She rushed to the coffin, took the 
dead child in her arms, and said: **Pearl, I can 
not give you up. They must not take you 
away." Brother Connell said: **Mother, that is 
not Pearl. That is only her dead body. Pearl 
lives in heaven." "Who said my darling would 
live again?" "Why, Jesus himself." "Well, 
then, I can go to her." She quietly returned 
to her seat, comforted by the promises of Jesus. 

He is the good Shepherd and he will care 



^ THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

for us. A minister went to the bedside of a 
dying mother. She said, ''Oh, brother, I am 
afraid to die." ''Why, I thought you were a 
Christian and not afraid of the future.'' "I 
know I am saved, and that I will go to heaven, 
but the fear of the agony of death." A few 
days later the minister called again, and she 
said, "I am not afraid now; I have read the 
promises of Jesus and he will go with me 
through the valley." In a few hours she went 
to be with Jesus. A month passed, and the 
same minister met the husband, who said: 
*'Come with me at once. My little girl Allie is 
dying of diphtheria. She wants to talk with 
you." What will she want to talk about? In 
our worldly affairs we talk of everything, but 
when we come to the time of death we talk of 
Jesus. The minister hurried to her bed and 
found her gasping for breath. He said, "What 
do you want me to talk about, Allie?" "Talk 
about heaven and where mother is." "Well, 
Allie, heaven is a glorious country. Your 
mother is there. Jesus is there. No little girls 
have sore throats there." Her eyes sparkled. 
"If I die, I will go to mother. She will be at 
the gate to meet me." Just then the physician 
came in and said, "Allie, I must burn your 
throat again." "Papa, don't let them burn my 
throat again; I want to go to mother. Papa, 
take me in your arms." He took the poor lit- 



WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST Q 

tie, dying creature in his arms. **Now, hold me 
just a little higher; hold me nearer mother and 
heaven." There, just as high as he could hold 
her, her spirit went home to Jesus and mother. 
Skeptic, what have you to offer to that dying 
girl? You blow out the light and leave her in 
darkness. 



MORAL LAW AND POSITIVE DIVINE LAW 

Moral law relates to that which is right in 
itself. It appeals to human reason. The thing 
required can be seen to be right in the nature of 
the thing. 

It is right to speak the truth and wrong to 
lie. The moral commands may be kept by 
those who have no faith, hence they are no 
tests of loyalty to God. 

All can see a reason why we should keep 
the moral laws of truth, honesty and purity. 
These moral commands are kept to some extent 
hy all men. 

Positive divine law requires a higher order 
of obedience. The positive commands are right 
because God commands them. There is no ap- 
parent fitness between the thing commanded and 
Wessing to be obtained. To keep a positive 
command Is a trial of a man's faith, a test of 
loyalty. A moral command is no test of loyalty. 

If God had said to Adam, ''In the day thou 
whippest thy wife thou shalt surely die," there 
would have been no test of loyalty. No one 
could have known whether he kept the command 

68 



MORAL AND DIVINE LAW 69 

because he loved God or because he loved his 
wife. He might have kept the command be- 
cause he loved her or because he had sympathy 
with her, or it might have been because he was 
afraid of her. But in either case there would 
have been no test of faith. The reason for 
keeping a positive law is because God com- 
manded it. It is the test of a man's faith. 
Keeping the positive divine command does not 
make a man any better morally or physically; 
but in keeping it he shows his respect for divine 
authority and his reverence for God. 

Some tell us these positive commands are of 
little consequence; that if we conduct ourselves 
properly and cultivate the Christian graces, we 
are all right. That is a fearful mistake. A 
positive divine law rises above moral law. 

The first command given, ''Thou shalt not 
eat of the tree of knowledge," was a positive 
command. No doubt Adam reasoned as men 
do this day, and said: "What harm Is there in 
It? It is mere form, anyway." But his dis- 
obedience brought a curse upon the race. 

Voltaire asked, ''What harm is there in eat- 
ing an apple?" No man can see any reason for 
not eating the apple save for that exalted reason 
that God said, "Eat it not." It resembles many 
cases we have to-day in which reason is put 
above God's law. Good intentions do not jus- 
tify disobedience. God said no one but a Levite 



70 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

must touch the ark of the covenant. Uzzah, 
not of the tribe of Levi, put his hand on the 
ark to steady it as it threatened to fall, and was 
stricken by death for his error. No doubt his 
intentions were right. Good intentions and do- 
ing what God forbade him to do led to his 
death, and by this we are warned of the danger 
of neglecting God's positive law. Eve was de- 
ceived, but her disobedience brought death. 

Whenever we violate law we suffer, whether 
it be the physical, moral or divine law. If I 
put my finger in the fire, it will burn. All the 
prayers of the world will not keep the finger 
from burning. It is foolish to pray that the 
finger may not burn. Better pray that I may 
keep it out of the fire. Instead of asking God 
to save the disobedient, pray that the disobedi- 
ent may become obedient. 

If a man violates the laws of truthful- 
ness, sobriety and chastity, he will reap what he 
sows. 

Just as sure as a man suffers when he vio- 
lates physical or moral law, he will suffer when 
he transgresses positive law. God told Abra- 
ham to go and offer up his son. The positive 
command arose above the moral. 

The command to look upon the brazen 
serpent was a positive command. All who 
looked, lived. All who reasoned that there was 
no good in looking at a piece of brass, died. 



MORAL AND DIVINE LAW 71 

I wish now to present four cases showing 
the results of obedience and disobedience. 

God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden 
and commanded him not to eat of the forbidden 
fruit. He did eat, and brought death upon the 
race. The suffering came from the violation of 
a positive divine command. 

Again, God commanded that no one but the 
priests of the tribe of Levi should touch the 
ark of the covenant. The ark had been cap- 
tured by the enemy and David had retaken it 
and was having it brought back home. As the 
ark tottered and was about to fall, Uzzah put his 
hand against the ark and fell dead (2 Sam. 
6:7). Uzzah was not a priest and he was com- 
manded not to touch the ark. His intentions 
were good, perhaps, but when God commands 
we must obey. Here one man brought a curse 
upon himself, and another death, by disobedi- 
ence to a divine positive command. 

I wish now to show where obedience brought 
blessings. The man born blind came to Jesus. 
He said to him, '^Go, wash In the pool of 
Siloam." He washed and sight was given. 
Was there any virtue in that water? Certainly 
not. How did the man get the blessing? By 
obeying a positive command. 

In the fifth chapter of Second Kings we 
have a case where obedience saved a man's life. 
Naaman was afflicted with leprosy. He was 



n THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

commanded to go to Ellsha the prophet. The 
old prophet said to Naaman, **Go and wash in 
the Jordan seven times, and thou shalt be 
clean." Naaman was angry; but his friends 
urged him to obey the command. In imagina- 
tion I see him going back fifteen miles. He 
goes down into the stream and dips once. 
Every spot was there yet. No indication of 
healing. I near him say, *'I told you there was 
no virtue in this old, muddy Jordan.'' *'Hold 
on, Naaman; God did not say to dip once, but 
seven times. You must obey God according to 
his commands." He dipped twice, three times, 
four, five, six times; not a spot is healed; no 
indication of cleansing. Again he was angry. 
**Naaman, do what God tells you to do." He 
dipped the seventh time, and when he came up 
his flesh was as pure as that of a little child, 
and he was healed. Was the healing in the 
water? No. Was it in the seven dips over the 
one? No. How did the healing come? By 
obeying God's positive command. 

Obedience brought a blessing upon Cor- 
nelius, who was a praying man. The blessing 
came to him when he obeyed. 

But you may ask, *'Are there any positive 
laws now?" Jesus spent three years in the 
work of mercy and he gave many moral laws, 
but he constituted but two positive laws; one, 
the Lord's Supper, to test the loyalty of the 



MORAL AND DIVINE LAW 73 

Christian; the other, baptism, to test the loyalty 
of the unconverted. Standing on the slope of 
the hill, Jesus gave his parting command to his 
disciples: '*Go into all the world and preach the 
gospel to every creature. He that believeth and 
is baptized shall be saved." 

This positive command (baptism) rests 
upon the authority of our Lord. We must obey 
it. Our opinions are of no avail. To ignore it 
is treason. Obey God and sing : 

"Oh, how happy are they 
Who their Saviour obey/' 



VI. 

THE BASIS OF CHRISTIAN UNITY 

Text. — "Neither for these only do I pray, but for them 
also that believe on me through their word; that they may 
all be one ; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, 
that they may also be in us : that the world may believe that 
thou didst send me." — John 17 : 20, 21. 

The paramount issue among the churches is 
Christian unity. Every religious society is 
pleading for union. It is the theme that stirs 
our world's missionary conventions into the 
white heat of enthusiasm. 

The Catholic Church is making overtures to 
the English and Greek Churches, urging them 
to come back into the fold. The English 
Church says to the Catholic Church, **Give up 
your doctrine of infallibility and we are ready 
for union." 

The Methodist Conference and the Presby- 
terian Synod set apart a session to discuss the 
union question. The great thinkers are realiz- 
ing that the Protestants must unite or die. 
There is not a hope for the conquest of the 
world for Christ, with a divided church. We 
must unite or perish. Divided, we fall. United, 
we stand. 

74 



THE BASIS OF CHRISTIAN UNITY 75 

THE TESTIMONY OF GREAT MEN. 

The work of Christianizing the world can only be done 
by a united church. — Norman McLean^ Scotland, 

I would do little to make a man a Baptist and much to 
make him a Christian. — E, T. Ruth {Baptist) ^ Liverpool, 
England. 

The body of Christ, torn and bleeding, is the shame of 
the church. It is our duty to put an end to divisions. — 
Episcopal Assembly. 

Denominationalism has done all the good it can do. Let 
it fade and pass away. — Dr, Hunter {Congregationalist), 
Glasgow, Scotland. 

The want of unity in the church at home is a serious 
hindrance in the mission field. It is of large importance that 
Christian forces be united. — John R. Mott. 

The value of Christian union is great at home, but ten- 
fold greater in the mission field, where divisions suggest 
other prophets besides Jesus. — Former President Harrison. 

The missionary problem is not a Methodist problem, an 
Episcopalian problem, nor a Baptist problem ; it is a problem 
for united Christendom. — Dr. Gracey, Ecumenical Missionary 
Convention. 

In the missionary work, above all other kinds of Chris- 
tian work, it is imperative to remember that a divided Chris- 
tendom can only imperfectly bear witness to the essential 
unity of Christians. — Theodore Roosevelt. 

The most pitiable sight that I saw in the foreign lands 
was that of churches that had been gathered out of heathen- 
ism, rent in twain by sectarian jealousy which had been in- 
troduced from the so-called Christian lands. — Francis E, 
Clark. 

The greatest weakness of Protestantism is division. The 
demand of the hour is Christian union. Saintship is not sec- 
tarian. Union would give us strength. A united church in 
New Albany would give us the power to destroy the saloon, 
revolutionize amusements, and relieve suffering. — Frank Or- 
man Beck (M. £.), New Albany, Ind. 



76 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

The time has come in the history of the church when God 
says: "Unite, unite." God is calling us to "unite, unite." I 
would not for the world forsake my denomination (Baptist), 
but for Christ's sake I would gladly give it up forever. — 
Russell Conwell, Endeavor Convention, New York City. 

As soon as Porto Rico came under our flag, we began to 
parcel out the territory. This was comity. Our denomina- 
tional banners should have been left behind us. I like not 
the word "comity"; it is veneered selfishness. It is wrong 
in principle and unworkable in practice. Our ritual and 
creeds must not stand in the way of massing of our Christian 
forces, for the redemption of the world. — A, /. F. Behrends 
{Congregationalist) , Brooklyn, N, Y, 

Let me speak to you in the language of heaven and call 
you Christians. — Henry Ward Beecher, 

These divisions should be merged into the holy name 
''Christians." — Albert Barnes. 

I pray you leave my name alone. Do not call yourselves 
Lutherans, but Christians. — Martin Luther (Michelet's "Life 
of Luther" p. 262). 

I wish the name "Methodist" might never be mentioned 
more, but lost in eternal oblivion. — John Wesley {"Universal 
Knowledge," Vol. IX., p. 540) . 

I sometimes feel sorry that the word "Baptist," which 
was flung at us by our enemies and stuck, should be our 
name. Perhaps yet we will go back to the name "Christian." 
— Dr. P. S. Henson (Baptist), in the General Convention of 
Baptist Churches at Cleveland, O., May 19, 1904. 

It is a privilege to join with you in your tribute to John 
Wesley. The more we study him and his life the nearer we 
shall come together. . < . I never think of Wesley, the 
attitude of the English Church toward him, and the action 
of those who broke away from the mother church, without 
feeling anew that it is the self-will of man, and not the will 
of God, that separates and keeps his family apart. The 
supreme duty of all Christian churches is to place unity, 
actual and real, as the unity of an army, in the forefront of 
every prayer and of every effort that God in his good time 
may bring them to subordinate individual will to his purpose 



THE BASIS OF CHRISTIAN UNITY 77 

for his church. — Silas McBee, Editor of the "Churchman" 
{Protestant Episcopal) ^ New York City, in "Northwestern 
Christian Advocate" {Methodist Episcopal), June 17, 1903. 

The division of the church into sects is a distinct and 
flagrant sin. — "Ian Maclaren" {Rev, John Watson, Presby- 
terian Minister, Sefton Park, Liverpool), in "The Bonnie 
Briar Bush," p. 270. 

In the beginning, we are told, the Christian church was 
"all with one accord in one place," but if Peter and Paul were 
to come to New York or to New Orleans or to San Francisco 
or to Boston, they would find the members of this one church 
in 169 different places, with a practical man, named James, 
leading one group of disciples; an emotional Peter leading 
another group ; the aesthetic John leading still another group ; 
and the philosophic Paul guiding his own band. The cross 
of Christ stands in the center, but each regiment, with back 
toward that cross, marching away from his fellows, while his 
denominational leader beats time. Yet, unity, co-operation, 
could combine these scattered regiments into a solid army 
marching on to victory. — Newell Dwight Hillis, in "Every- 
body's Magazine" for April, 1904. 

With the testimonies of these great men, 
and the declarations of these mighty assemblies, 
little must be the man who defends divisions 
and declares that God wants different denomi- 
nations to satisfy the temperaments, tastes and 
prejudices of man. God wants his people to 
be one in doctrine and practice. 

WHY WE SHOULD UNITE. 

We should unite because our Lord prayed 
four times that we might all be one. Our 
Lord's unanswered prayer should touch our 
hearts, and urge us to do all we can to bring 



78 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

about the union of his people. There is noth- 
ing in the Bible more carefully taught than the 
unity of his own. The New Teastament church 
was a unit. Jesus said **my church.'' The 
church in the beginning was one body, one fold 
and one household. The New Testament 
church was a unit, and this unity can be restored. 
We plead for unity because it has the sanction 
of revelation. Let us hear what the Spirit says : 

"Now I beseech you, brethren, through the name of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that 
there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfected 
together in the same mind and in the same judgment" (1 
Cor. 1:10). 

"Seeing that we, who are many, are one bread, one body: 
for we all partake of the one bread" (1 Cor. 10: 17). 

"I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you to 
walk worthily of the calling wherewith ye were called, with 
all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing 
one another in love; giving diligence to keep the unity of 
the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one 
Spirit, even as also ye were called in one hope of your call- 
ing; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father 
of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all" (Eph. 
4:1-6). 

"Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not 
high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not 
wise in your own conceits" (Rom. 12 : 16) . 

"Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of 
Christ : that, whether I come and see you or be absent, I may 
hear of your state, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one 
soul striving for the faith of the gospel" (Phil. 1:27). 

With a united church, we should conquer 
the world for Christ in ten years. God has 



THE BASIS OF CHRISTIAN UNITY 79 

given us these mighty forces, the press, tele- 
gram, steamboat, railroad, the cablegram anni- 
hilating space and resistance, that we may use 
them so that the kingdoms of this world may 
become the kingdoms of our Lord. 

We should unite because Christ and the 
apostles condemned division. Christ tells us 
there is one fold and one shepherd. Paul tells 
us there is one body, one Spirit, one Lord and 
one baptism (Eph. 4: 4-6). But in our day we 
have many faiths, numerous baptisms, several 
bodies, and more than one Lord. Instead of the 
union of the faith, we have division, strife, con- 
fusion, jealousy, hate and contention. We have 
twenty-nine kinds of Methodists, twenty-two 
kinds of Lutherans, sixteen kinds of Presbyte- 
rians, eight kinds of Baptists, four kinds of 
Episcopalians and six kinds of Catholics. All 
under different government and law. Could any 
earthly nation live under such government? 

THE BIBLE EVERYWHERE CONDEMNS 
SEPARATION. 

Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there 
be no divisions among you ; but that ye be perfectly joined 
together in the same mind, and in the same judgment. 

For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, 
by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are con- 
tentions among you. 

Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul ; 
and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. 



80 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were 
you baptized in the name of Paul? (1 Cor. 1 : 10-13). 

And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spir- 
itual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. 

I have fed you with milk, and not with meat : for hitherto 
ye were not able to hear it, neither yet now are ye able. 

For ye are yet carnal : for whereas there is among you 
envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk 
as men? 

For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am 
of Apollos; are ye not carnal? 

Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers, by 
whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? (1 
Cor. 3: 1-5). 

That there should be no schism in the body; but that the 
members should have the same care one for another (1 
Cor. 12: 25). 

In this discussion Paul made use of the fig- 
ure of the human body to teach the lesson of 
unity. If one member suffereth, all suffer. The 
separation of any member of the body of 
Christ causes suffering to the whole body. The 
consequences go further than to merely injure 
the one that separates. It injures all. The 
blood of Jesus Christ never circulated through 
the veins of sectarianism. Think of the mem- 
bers of different denominations **having the 
same care one for the other" (i Cor. ii: i8). 
**Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them 
which cause divisions and offenses, contrary to 
the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid 
them" (Rom. i6: 17). 

The word of God condemns divisions, and 



THE BASIS OF CHRISTIAN UNITY 81 

yet the truth remains that, instead of standing 
fast together, we stand loosely, striving sepa- 
rately; three hundred party spirits, rejecting the 
commandments of God that we may keep our 
traditions. 

THE EVILS OF DIVISIONS. 

Divisions create doubt, skepticism and in- 
fidelity. The unbelieving world sees the folly 
of faction and separation, and rejects the faith. 
They see denominationalism is false, and reject 
all. Sectarianism breeds skeptics. Doubt is 
found everywhere. Our schools and universi- 
ties are filled with scorn and doubt. Dr. Christ- 
lieb, in speaking of his own country (Germany), 
says: ''Wherever you go, into the schoolroom 
of the professor, the barracks of the soldier, 
or the shops, you hear the same tale. The old 
faith has become obsolete; no new churches are 
being built. Only five in one hundred go to 
church in Germany, and not one in one hundred 
in the capital, among the Protestants, go to 
church. Everywhere religion is ridiculed and 
condemned." This wide spread of unbelief is 
alarming in our own country. Jesus prayed that 
*'all might be one," and his reason for praying 
for this unity was "that the world might believe 
that thou hast sent me." Unity will cause the 
world to believe in Christ. Disunion will cause 
the world to reject him. Disunion is largely re- 



82 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

sponsible for the havoc of skepticism. When 
the unbelieving world sees the soldiers of the 
cross at war with one another, it turns away in 
disgust, and has no desire to enter the ranks of 
those contending factions. 

Disunion hinders evangelism. People wed- 
ded to a denomination often prefer to see their 
friends and relatives stay out of Christ rather 
than join some other denomination. ''I do not 
know what church to join," is the common ex- 
cuse of thousands in every community. In my 
evangelistic work I have met these excuses thou- 
sands of times. 

Disunion hinders church discipline, admoni- 
tion and rebuke. Immorality and heresy find 
protection in disunion. All know if men are 
rebuked for their sins or threatened suspension 
for their folly, that they can find a home in some 
rival denomination, and often these disturbers 
of peace are treated as heroes. The outside 
world sees this folly, and sneers. Over such a 
scene Satan sits upon his throne, and smiles. The 
divided church is doing his work for him. 

On account of rivalry and jealousy among 
religious societies the Christian religion is not 
taught in our public schools nor in many of our 
colleges. Teachers can teach history, geography, 
mythology, and the religion of the Greeks, but 
they are not allowed to teach the Christian 
religion. As most of our children are educated 



THE BASIS OF CHRISTIAN UNITY 83 

in the public schools, the majority of our Ameri- 
can youths grow up without any religion. 
Teachers are compelled to assume an attitude 
of indifference, and many even exhibit antago- 
nism to religion. They must not show any inter- 
est in religion, as it may ruin their influence and 
even lose them their places in many schools. 
Skepticism enters the classroom and faith goes 
out. 

DISUNION CAUSES GRIEF. 

Sickness, poverty and misery have caused 
less grief than divisions have caused. These 
divisions bring sorrow, heartache, anguish and 
disappointment. Disunion divides homes, and 
causes the parents to quarrel over the cradle of 
the new-born babe. Children remain out of the 
church because father belongs to one church and 
mother to another. Do you think that Jesus 
ever expected the home to be so divided that we 
can not train the children for the Christ? 

Denominationalism hinders the work of 
charity. Divided into warring factions, the 
churches do not relieve misery, care for the 
sick and alleviate pain. Were we one people, 
we could hire great physicians that could be con- 
sulted free by the poor and needy, make happy 
many suffering homes, fill the hungry mouths, 
and clothe the shivering body. In every com- 
munity there are persons who have gone to an 



84 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

untimely death, and filled paupers' graves, who 
could have been saved by Christian care. 

To many so-called Christians our Lord may 
say on that great day: ''Depart from me, ye 
cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the 
devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and ye 
gave me no meat; sick, and ye visited me not." 
To care for the poor is laid upon the Christian 
church, and God will hold it responsible for the 
neglect. 

Disunion is wicked waste of mind and 
money. Disunion weakens the church, wastes 
its money, squanders its resources, creates rival- 
ry and extravagance. Millions of dollars are 
put into great temples of worship, not because 
they are needed, but in order to vie with one 
another. We try to outstrip our rivals in erect- 
ing great buildings, and securing popular preach- 
ers who can draw the masses. If we would turn 
loose the hundred thousand rival preachers and 
set free the millions of money tied up to per- 
petuate division, we would have men and money 
to carry the gospel to the slums, the heathen and 
the waste places of the world. None need be 
idle. The work of mercy needs thousands of 
Christian workers and millions of dollars of 
money. One hundred and fifty million people 
have never heard the name of Jesus pronounced. 
One billion of human beings have never ac- 
knowledged his authority. Not one worker 



THE BASIS OF CHRISTIAN UNITY 85 

would be thrown out of employment if denomi- 
nationalism was abandoned, but all workers 
could go forth with the true spirit of brotherly 
love, conquering the kingdom of sin for the 
King of kings. 

I was in a Western town of five thousand 
people where fourteen churches were struggling 
for an existence. On Lord's Day morning not 
one of them had one hundred people in attend- 
ance. All combined had less than five hundred 
in services that day. Two good churches, with 
two able ministers, could have served the people 
much better. Instead of working together, they 
were in bitter antagonism. Could stupidity be 
more stupid than to perpetuate in a town of a 
few hundred people, so many church houses, so 
many preachers, so many congregations, bur- 
dened with debt and asking the missionary socie- 
ties to help them live, when they should have 
been contributing to the evangelism of the 
world? 

THE SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM. 

I have listened to the addresses at our 
world's congresses, federation assemblies and 
missionary conferences. These great assemblies 
show the evil of disunion and the beauty of 
union, but I never heard one of the speakers 
offer a solution for the problem. They all ad- 
mit that the divided church is sick, but they offer 



86 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

no remedy. They examine the case and declare 
the disease, but prescribe no cure. In all the 
addresses that I have read, delivered in the 
conferences and assemblies, all admit that the 
problem of the church is union, but they do not 
offer a solution. 

I trust I am not prejudiced, but It seems to 
me that the people called Christians are the 
only people that offer a solution for this ques- 
tion. And even our great orators generally 
speak of the evil and fail to offer the remedy. 
Our remedy is to restore the New Testament 
church in doctrine and practice. All who do 
this are abiding in unity. We should show de- 
nominationalism the beauty, strength and justice 
of Christian unity. When men can be made to 
see this power of unity, they will abandon dis- 
union. 

THE BASIS OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. 

I. The basis of Christian unity must contain 
every essential in Christianity. If we omit one 
essential, some people will see that all the 
truth is not taught, and they will organize an- 
other religious society. Instead of unity, we 
only have another division. Unity will never 
come by accommodating the truth to the preju- 
dices of men. Faith is unvarying, and men must 
accommodate themselves to it. Parts of the 
truth must not be taken as a whole. There 



THE BASIS OF CHRISTIAN UNITY %7 

can be no unity only as we cling to the truth, 
and the truth shall make us free. Here is where 
the blunders have been made in the past. Chris- 
tian union is not new. The Moravians pleaded 
for union, but they failed because they omitted 
some of the cardinal points in Christianity. The 
Christian Connection made character the basis 
of union and gave people their choice as to doc- 
trine. The Friends (Quakers) attempted a 
spiritual union, but failed, as they omitted the 
two Christian institutions — baptism and com- 
munion. They failed, and their religious so- 
cieties are becoming a disappearing brother- 
hood. The only thing they accomplished was to 
make more divisions. Abner Jones, of Ver- 
mont; James O'Kelly, of North Carolina, and 
Barton Stone urged union, but they were too 
liberal and failed. Jesus said, ''Why call me 
Lord, and do not the things I say?" All his 
teaching is essential, and must go into this basis 
in order to succeed. 

2. The basis of unity must not contain one 
non-essential. If it contains a non-essential, 
good people will not accept it, and again you 
have division Instead of union. That has been 
the trouble with creed and creed-maker. They 
put in their basis things not taught in the Bible. 
A man may believe In hereditary sin, total de- 
pravity, election and direct operation of the 
Spirit and be saved. He may reject all these 



S8 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

doctrines and be saved. They are non-essentials, 
and must not go in the basis of union. 

Well did the author of ^That We Might Be 
One'' say, '*A11 the congresses and federations 
of the world can not bring union on the basis 
of man's opinion." We must come back to the 
New Testament church. The federations and 
congresses may advance the cause of union, but 
more often they hinder. They convey to the 
world that these combines have divine sanction. 
The Bible forms no basis for churches. It 
teaches unity, one church. A federation of 
churches is not unity. 

Were it not for our divided conditions, I 
would not have to discuss this subject any 
further. But on account of divisions we have 
departed from the divine line. We must re- 
turn to the New Testament church. 

THE NAME. 

There is no other name under the stars 
upon which we can unite except ^'Christian." It 
is the only name that includes all who are fol- 
lowers of the Christ, and excludes all who are 
not. It is a universal term, one that applies to 
all who own our Lord. Try our logic on any 
other word, and you will fail. Disciples and 
brethren are too inclusive. They include many 
who are not Christians. The Oddfellows and 
Masons are brethren. Plato and Socrates had 



THE BASIS OF CHRISTIAN UNITY 89 

disciples. "Lutheran'* is too exclusive. The 
name excludes many who are Christians. With 
Alexander Proctor we say: *'The only term on 
earth upon which we can unite is the term 
'Christian'." Christians of all denominations 
are willing to wear that divine name. We can 
never agree upon a party name. Go to a 
brother of some denomination and say to him, 
*Tou are not a Unitarian?" '*No, sir." 'Tou 
are not a Lutheran?" **No." ''You are not a 
Christian?" "Yes, I am." He is willing to 
wear that name. It is not in controversy. The 
name "Christian" has the sanction of revelation. 
"The disciples were called Christians first at 
Antioch" (Acts 11:26; Acts 26:28). Peter 
says: "If a man suffer as a Christian, let him 
not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this 
name" (i Pet. 4: 16). 

THE BOOK OF AUTHORITY. 

The New Testament must be the book of 
authority. Whatever it commands us to do, we 
must do; whatever it commands us not to do, 
we must not do. Where the Bible is silent 
there is freedom of opinion. We can unite upon 
no other book. Those who cling to the Dis- 
cipline will not surrender that book for the 
Westminster Confession. The people who ac- 
cept that Confession will not give it up for the 
Augsburg Confession, and the Lutherans will 



90 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

not give up that creed for the Nicene Creed. 
But all of them are willing to make the Bible 
the last appeal. We say, make it the last, first 
and only appeal. The place for all the creeds 
and Disciplines is the museum. 

THE BAPTISMAL CONTROVERSY. 

The subject of baptism should not be In our 
way. The same rule that applies to the name 
and the creed applies to baptism. We must 
adopt the practice that all will accept. We are 
not discussing the mode. It is our purpose to 
accept that practice upon which all will agree. 
The immersion of a penitent believer in water is 
accepted as Christian baptism by all Protestant- 
ism that practices any mode of baptism. The 
Methodists, Presbyterians, United Brethren, 
Congregationalists, Baptists and Lutherans ad- 
mit to membership immersed persons. This 
baptism is not in debate. These millions of peo- 
ple acknowledge that immersion is valid bap- 
tism. Here we can unite. 

But we can not unite upon any substitute. 
The ninety millions in the Greek Church, the 
millions of immersionists in the world, and the 
large number of immersed among other religious 
societies, will never accept any substitute for the 
New Testament practice. All will accept im- 
mersion. To leave this out of our basis of 
union is fatal. One hundred million people 



THE BASIS OF CHRISTIAN UNITY 91 

will not consent to this unscriptural practice. 

We are playing havoc with God's plans 
when we try to unite upon any human substi- 
tute. We are wasting time and courting dis- 
union even in trying it. Union means obedi- 
ence to God's laws. 

Those who plead for union should learn 
lessons from the trend of the age. 

Thousands upon thousands who have been 
sprinkled demand immersion every year. In 
every city, town and village, men and women 
leave the ranks of the affusionists and demand 
immersion. This is not true among those who 
cling to the baptism that Jesus enjoined upon his 
people. Christian unity must come by keeping 
the marching orders of our King, and not by 
rejecting some of his teaching. Jesus said: 
**Why call me Lord, Lord, and do not the 
things I say?" Jesus gave the Christian insti- 
tution of baptism. To reject it Is to reject his 
word. To ignore the word of the Lord Is to 
Ignore the Lord who spoke It. 

Unity will not come by comity, federations 
and combines. We must unite, not mix. Oil 
and water can not be united. Oxygen and 
hydrogen unite. Denominations may combine, 
but they can not unite. The union that Jesus 
prayed for was the union of Individuals, not of 
churches. Our work is to restore the New 
Testament church. For this purpose we were 



92 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

sent into this world. We were not sent to evan- 
gelize the world. True, we are intensely evan- 
gelistic, because we believe that is the best way 
to enlist men under the banner of unity. But 
we realize that the evangelistic problem is set- 
tled when we come to the unity of the faith. 
Our mission is not to preach to the heathen 
world. We are enthusiastically in favor of For- 
eign Missions, but other religious bodies are 
equally enthusiastic. Our work is to unite 
God's people. The missionary problem is 
solved when we unite, and not before. United, 
we can conquer the world in ten years. In our 
zeal for missions we must not silence the cry 
for unity. The missionary on the foreign field 
that is not preaching unity, is building on the 
sand. 

No truce must be made on the foreign field. 
He who compromises is standing on a volcano 
that may burst at any moment and carry all to 
destruction. The man who does not teach 
New Testament Christianity on the foreign 
field should be recalled. We are sent not only 
to evangelize, but to preach to other churches. 
We must teach them until they come to the unity 
of the faith. We were not sent to build great 
universities. Let the state and others do that. 
We are sent to prepare young men to go out 
and preach the unities of the faith. Let us do 
first things first. 



THE BASIS OF CHRISTIAN UNITY 93 

Paul tells us there are seven gospel unities 
(Eph. 4: 1-6). In order to restore the New 
Testament church, there must be unity of wor- 
ship, because there is one God; there must be 
unity of authority, because there is one Lord 
and Christ; there must be unity of practice, be- 
cause there is one baptism; there must be unity 
of preaching, because there is one faith; there 
must be unity of organization, because there is 
one body; there must be unity of life, because 
there is one Spirit; there must be unity of pur- 
pose, because there is one hope. The Great 
Commission contains every essential and omits 
every non-essential in God's ritual. It tells 
clearly what a man must do to become a Chris- 
tian. We must preach it just as it is — all of it 
and nothing else. 

We take hope and rejoice when we see the 
tendency of the religious world is toward unity. 
The thinkers among all religious societies cham- 
pion the cause of unity. Among the Baptists, 
men like Conwell, Ruth, Tupper and Henson; 
among the Methodists, Buckley, Vincent and 
Hamilton; among the Presbyterians and Con- 
gregationalists, Schaff, Hillis, Van Dyke and 
Mott; among the Episcopalians, Stanley and 
Farrar. This one thing we do: forgetting the 
minor things of the past, with determination we 
put our faces toward Christian unity. Theories, 
speculations, advanced thought, higher criticism, 



94 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

evolution, the new learning, and kindred sub- 
jects, must be cast out upon the dumping-ground 
of the past. It is our duty to make way for the 
united kingdom of our Lord. 

*'Men of thought and men of action, clear 
the way.'' 

Bring about this unity of God's people, and 
there will be joy in heaven and gladness on 
earth. Then we can sing the angel song, *'Glory 
to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good 
will toward men." 



VII. 

SERVICE 

Our Ideas of service have been constantly 
changing. In an early day, the church taught 
that it pleased God for his followers to punish 
the body. Foolish priests went off into the 
desert and lived in filth and degradation, think- 
ing they were serving God. A monk in Syria 
builded a tower and lived thirty years upon the 
top of it. His food was sent up to him in a 
basket by a rope. Here, in rags and dirt, he 
prayed fifteen hours a day. Silly people would 
pass by and say: *'What a servant of God!" 
But in all these thirty years of praying, priva- 
tion and torture, he did not render any service 
to God. 

Thinking it would please God to punish the 
body, deluded Christians wore hairy garments 
to lacerate the body, put thorns and pebbles in 
their shoes, crawled upon hands and knees, and 
wore out their bodies in pain. It is on account 
of this same foolish notion that the cruel priest 
commands his subjects to do penance. In Mex- 
ico I saw many persons crawling upon the stone 
floor. The priest had commanded them to 

95 



96 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

crawl there to please God, or, rather, to ap- 
pease him. But finally the people began to ask, 
*'Where is any service in torture? Whom do 
we serve by punishing the body?" Martin 
Luther crawling up Pilate's Stairway, in Rome, 
thought of the sentence, *'The just shall live by 
faith." Quickly he sprang up and went to preach- 
ing justification by faith. With that plea he 
shook all Europe. 

Protestantism gave the world a higher idea 
of service, but fell short of the divine idea. 
The Catholic Church taught that the pope was 
inspired. Protestantism taught that the king 
was inspired. Bishop Andrews taught that King 
James was inspired of God. To them, serving 
the pope and the king was serving God. Cal- 
vinism taught that to serve God was to do 
nothing. Thousands were waiting for God to 
come and convert them. Instead of obeying the 
command, "Create within me a clean heart," 
they were waiting for God to give them a new 
heart. Within the church, service consisted of 
shouting, crying, praying and agonizing, as if 
God would be pleased to see his people agonize. 
In these wild excitements, many would swoon 
and become unconscious. Preachers praised 
God for these wonderful hypnotic manifesta- 
tions. While all these things are rejected by us 
to-day as false conceptions of service, have we 
restored the divine idea? To many good peo- 



SERVICE 97 

pie to-day, service consists of singing, praying 
and praising God. 

Torturing the body, agonizing, singing, pray- 
ing and praising are not acts of service. Do not 
misunderstand me. Praying is absolutely essen- 
tial. It is as important as it is for the soldier 
to go to his meals. He can not live without it. 
We must feed upon the word of God, and com- 
mune with him, but that is worship, not service. 
It is proper to worship, but it is important to 
go further, and serve. To ask God to give you 
something is not service. You must give to 
serve. The way to serve God is to serve man. 

Jesus taught us clearly what service Is. 
Whatever Jesus taught he illustrated in his own 
life. When he wanted to teach the people what 
obedience is, he was obedient to his Father. 
When he wanted to teach what baptism is, he 
went down into the water and was baptized. 
When he desired to teach a lesson on immortal- 
ity, he went into the grave and came out tri- 
umphantly. His whole life affords an example 
of service. He took upon himself the form of 
a servant (Phil. 2: 6, 7). 

He said to his disciples, ^'I am among you 
as a servant." ''The Son of man came not to 
be ministered unto, but to minister." Then he 
proclaimed that wonderful truth, "The disciple 
IS not above his master." As my Father hath 
sent me, so I send you." 



98 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

He went forth encouraging the despondent, 
helping the needy, and consoHng the afflicted. 
Then, in his last great lesson, he taught that we 
are to be rewarded or condemned as we have 
served or failed to serve. 

In the last great court, Jesus will not ask us 
if we believed or prayed. It is our blessed 
privilege to praise him, but that is not service. 
But he will ask us if we carried a cup of water 
to the thirsty, or fed the hungry. Christian 
service consists of doing something for human- 
ity, and doing that thing in the name of the 
Lord. Religion without philanthropy is not 
Christianity. Philanthropy without religion is 
not Christianity. Christian service consists of 
both piety and philanthropy. Piety without 
charity is as defective as charity without piety. 
We may give our millions for self-aggrandize- 
ment, and it is not Christian service. We may 
pray, cry, weep and be very good, but these 
things do not constitute Christian service. When 
a man enlists under the banner of Christ, he 
should begin a life of service. Commercial 
service and Christian service are widely differ- 
ent. Commercial service serves to be served. 
Christian service serves to help. In Christian 
service greed gives way to need. If society 
would accept the social laws of Jesus, the earth 
would blossom as a rose, while poverty and sor- 
row would flee away. 



SERVICE 99 

Then we would hear no more of the secular 
and sacred. The lawyer, merchant and states- 
man would go forth to do good, not for gain; 
when the church-member takes the ballot in his 
hand, he should say with the same reverence, 
**Lord, what wilt thou have me do?'' as when 
he takes the communion cup. With this con- 
ception of service, society will demand that the 
statesman shall be as godly as the preacher, 
and the voter as pure as the deacon. The 
churchman will understand that to serve God he 
must do service in his name. 

All around us are great opportunities for 
Christian service. Christians should go to the 
home of the sick, not in the name of orders, 
ladies' aid, or Endeavor societies, but go there 
in the name of Christ. They should go not 
only to pray and sympathize, but they should 
go to aid. Cleansing the home of the afflicted, 
as if it was the home of your own sister in the 
flesh, and relieving the sick and weary of the 
heavy burdens of life, is high Christian service. 
To permit a sister in Christ to suffer in neglect 
is as great a sin as to neglect the needs of your 
sister in the flesh. Years ago I saw a mother 
and father enter a village church. They looked 
around to see their married daughter. She was 
not at church. I heard the mother say: 'Will- 
iam, I am afraid Virgie is sick. I can't be at 
rest until I know what is the cause of her ab- 



100 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

sence." The father replied: '*I can't worship 
till I know what is the cause of her absence. 
She may be in need. I will go over and see. 
If she needs you, I will send for you." If 
every Christian would feel with the same anx- 
ious love toward every other Christian, the 
church would win victories. 

If, when we missed a Christian from church, 
we could not rest until we knew the cause, the 
problem of church attendance would be solved. 
A sister said to me not long ago: *'I have not 
served the Lord this year." I asked her why. 
She replied: '^I have an invalid mother that I am 
compelled to care for. I can not leave her 
alone one hour. I have not been to service 
once this year." I said to her: '^In serving your 
afflicted mother, you have served God. You 
can render no higher service, and God will 
bless you." By helping others in Christ's name, 
we are rendering the highest service that can 
possibly be rendered to God. 



VIII. 
GORGEOUSNESS IN WORSHIP 

The early church was noted for its simplicity 
in its worship and in its gospel message. Mag- 
nificence characterized paganism; ostentation, 
Judaism ; simplicity, Christianity. Paganism 
boasted of its gorgeous temples, its magnificent 
edifices and dazzling monuments. Its devotees 
could point to the pyramids of Egypt, the hang- 
ing gardens of Babylon, the Parthenon of 
Greece, and the Pantheon of Rome. They 
shouted, '*Great is Diana of the Ephesians!" 
In contrast to all this stood the simplicity of 
Christianity. 

When the pagans came into the church they 
brought with them many of their pagan customs, 
feasts, and the inordinate lust for the gorgeous 
and gaudy. 

The pagan priest dressed gorgeously, and 
wielded a mighty power over his subject. 
Slowly this lust for display crept into the wor- 
ship of Christians. Bishops aped the pagan 
priest, and put on dazzling clerical robes. Bish- 
ops struggled to outstrip one another in bril- 
liancy and splendor. The Bishops of Carthage 

101 



102 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

vied with the Bishop of Caesarea, Caesarea with 
Jerusalem, Jerusalem with Constantinople, and 
Constantinople with Rome. Then began the 
war for supremacy and authority, which ended 
in the establishment of the Roman hierarchy. 

Now began the reign of display — gorgeous- 
ness and extravagance that surpassed the pagan 
world. The fine arts were put under tribute to 
beautify and decorate the gorgeous temples. 
Worship became pompous. The fine arts may 
be used to enhance righteousness ; but in the part 
where art flourished, vice lurked. When Phidias 
was decorating Athens, Greece was steeped in 
vice. 

Rome was never more vicious than when 
Michael Angelo was building St. Peter's, or 
when Raphael was frescoing the Vatican. Art 
may decorate, but, alone, it will not always ele- 
vate. The nude and indecent in art to-day stirs 
up evil passions and deadens the best emotions 
of our nature. 

The ancient tried to build a tower to heaven. 
That was pagan. We lavish gold upon church 
steeples. That is also pagan. On every Lord's 
Day morning you can hear the chimes of the 
church bells and see the sun's rays sparkle 
from the golden steeple yonder in New York. 
There stands that mighty church that owns 
seventy million dollars' worth of property. Yet 
only a few blocks from this gorgeous church, 



GORGEOUSNESS IN WORSHIP 103 

With its millions, are one hundred thousand 
human vermin, crawling in filth and shame, who 
have never seen a Bible, heard a sermon, or 
who have never entered a church. Strip off this 
dazzling gold from the steeple and upholster- 
ing, and send the gospel to these starving men 
and women. 

The seventy millions of dollars tied up In 
this wealthy church would build two hundred 
excellent church homes, employ two hundred 
preachers for twenty-five years, and yet have 
money to assist in alleviating pain and feeding 
the hungry. The church is more pagan than 
Christian. 

Simplicity characterized the religion of our 
forefathers. Then Puritanic brethren gave to 
the world the best manhood and womanhood 
that has ever been seen. About all that is worth 
saving in American society is Puritanic. 

The current Reformation was noted for its 
simplicity in worship and the clearness of Its 
message. We were free from high-sounding 
titles and pompous display. Our growth was 
marvelous. But we again began to ape pagan- 
ism In our love for display and In seeking after 
titles. We no longer rejoice In our rapid 
growth. 

Let us return to the simplicity as It Is In 
Christ, and we will rapidly regain our lost in- 
fluence. 



104 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

One of our laymen stated that if he would 
withdraw his financial support from his local 
congregation it would go into bankruptcy in five 
years. If the Lord has put into our hands thou- 
sands of dollars, it is a sin to use it for extrav- 
agant display. To put four hundred thousand 
dollars into a church home when one hundred 
thousand would have builded a temple that 
would have accommodated the people just as 
well, is a wicked waste of the Lord's money. It 
is unchristian and unpardonable. The three 
hundred thousand saved would build six or eight 
good houses of worship and would do a hun- 
dred-fold more good. 

If our pride, vanity, selfishness, hired choirs, 
frescoed galleries, dainty and perfumed sermons, 
heartless worship, worldly singers, fastidious 
preachers and lavish display of dress could be 
put into God's crucible, much dross would be 
found. The preacher in the worldly church be- 
comes finical, apologetic, unsound in his message, 
and reduces himself to an oratorical fop. His 
sermons are faultlessly nice, gloriously dull and 
supremely null. 

All careful observers admit, as our churches 
become wealthy and our worship becomes gor- 
geous, the members become cold and heartless. 
When display and gorgeousness go in, friend- 
ship and love go out. When style enters, sim- 
plicity departs. When gaudily dressed rich 



GORGEOUSNESS IN WORSHIP 105 

rule, the poor are driven out. Christian fellow- 
ship can not grow in the icehouse of ostentation. 
No man can feel humble amid all the dazzle and 
gorgeousness common in the ponderous edifice 
of extravagance and wealth. Sociability can not 
live in high-church society. 

Humility is too delicate to look at itself and 
live. It can grow only in the warm atmosphere 
of love and simple friendship. Let us see 
Christ's estimate of the wealthy and worldly 
church. To six of the seven churches in Asia 
he had a word of commendation, but to the 
Laodicean church he had not one line of com- 
mendation or one word of praise. The church, 
as an organization, had passed beyond redemp- 
tion. 

The great sin of this congregation was its 
unlimited wealth. We hear of churches bur- 
dened with debt, but there is a church burdened 
with wealth unto death. Wealth crushed out its 
life, until it existed only in a name of reproach. 

The Master said: ^'Thou art neither cold 
nor hot. I would you were cold or hot." The 
church hot to white heat needs no help. Her 
enthusiasm, zeal, passion and activity crown her 
with victory. The cold church may be revived. 
It may see its need of fire, but the lukewarm is 
hopeless. You can eat a cold egg; a hot one 
will hatch; but a lukewarm one nobody wants — 
It is loathsome. 



106 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

Now listen to this church's estimate of it- 
self (Rev. 3 : 17, i8) : *'I am rich/' have abun- 
dance; **I have gotten riches/' accumulated, self- 
acquired; ^^and have need of nothing," independ- 
ent of everybody. It was self-satisfied. If any 
one had visited it, the members would have 
boasted of their beautiful premises, their gor- 
geous building, and pointed to their matchless 
equipment. They would have told you they 
were out of debt, money in the treasury, and 
that they did not need anything. 

If our secretaries or missionary agents had 
visited this church, they would have pronounced 
it the most marvelous church in the brotherhood. 
Columns of praise would have been written. 
We put a money estimate upon all religious 
work. The preacher that can raise money is 
the popular man. Secretaries glory not in the 
souls won for Christ or the houses builded for 
worship, but they glory in the money they raise. 
This self-satisfied church needed nothing. Ask 
those people to engage in a series of evangelistic 
meetings, and they would have said: '*We need 
nothing. Go where they want such things. We 
are rich. We are opposed to evangelism." The 
worst traitor in the camp of Christ is that man 
who protests against evangelism. 

Now listen to what Jesus said about these 
self-satisfied people: "You are poor" — reduced 
to spiritual poverty. You are so poor that 



GORGEOUSNESS IN WORSHIP 107 

you are going into decay. You lack all the rich 
graces of Christianity. ''You are miserable'' — 
so poor that you are pitiable. ''You are naked,'* 
your tattered garments show your nudeness; 
you are void of the shame of your nakedness. 
You are stripped of the beautiful garments of 
humility, love and peace, and void of white 
robes. "You are blind" and can not see your 
poverty, want, nakedness and misery. But 
what is even more sad — you are satisfied with 
your ruined condition ! 

"I will spew you out of my mouth." With 
that sentence Christ signed the death-warrant of 
the Laodicean church. It was abandoned for- 
ever. There never was a more scathing rebuke 
hurled against any one than this bitter denunci- 
ation. The lukewarm Christian is represented 
as sickening the Almighty. The Laodicean 
church had everything but Jesus. Lacking that, 
they lacked all. 

While he utterly rejects this congregation, 
he never forsook the individual. The next sen- 
tence is one of the saddest in the Bible. "Be- 
hold, I stand at the door and knock." Jesus 
was excluded. "If any man hear my voice and 
open the door, I will come to him, and sup with 
him, and he with me." Oh, the excluded Christ! 
He is on the outside. Pomp, riches and sin on 
the inside. No one to open the door. 

Now, suppose five righteous men had opened 



108 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

the door and communed with Jesus ; what would 
have been the result? These five men with 
Jesus would have been the church of Christ in 
Laodicea. The other six hundred members 
would have been excommunicated. We hear of 
a big church of one thousand members excom- 
municating some weak man, but here are five 
men who excommunicate one thousand. If the 
thousand worldly members want to be with 
Christ, they have nothing to do but come over 
and join the five who are with Jesus, and if they 
will come, he will sup with them, and they with 
him. He will sit down at their table, and they 
will sit at his table. This sweet communion 
may be enjoyed by every Christian. 

The church that will open the door to the ex- 
cluded Christ has power within itself to convert 
the whole community where it is located, with- 
out a revival or without an evangelist. Jesus 
was driven out of the home of his birth — Beth- 
lehem; rejected in the home of his residence — 
Nazareth; expelled from the home of his 
adoption — Capernaum; and then, in Laodicea, 
excluded from the church, for he was on the out- 
side. This Laodicean church was unconscious, 
stupefied, lethargic — like the reptile that coils 
around its own body, and then goes Into a stupor. 
So this church had become so dead that it was in- 
sensitive; it did not realize its danger. Open 
the door, and He will come in and dwell with us. 



IX. 
CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 

During the last century baptism in religion 
and tariff in politics have been the great sub- 
jects in controversy. In these discussions men 
strive to win victories for parties instead of 
triumphs for the truth. It is my purpose to 
state what we believe the Bible teaches on this 
subject. 

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. 

I. Jesus came all the way from Nazareth, 
about seventy miles, and demanded baptism of 
John. John hesitated. Jesus said: ''Suffer it 
to be so now, for thus it becometh us to ful- 
fil all righteousness.^' Resisting no longer, John 
baptized him in Jordan (Mark 1:9). 

When he came up out of the water, a voice 
from heaven said: ''This is my beloved Son, 
in whom I am well pleased*' (Matt. 3: 16, 17). 

He went down into the water Jesus, the 
son of Mary. He came up out of the water 
the Christ, the recognized Son of God. 

When we fulfill all righteousness, God will 
recognize us as his children. 

109 



110 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

In his life, Jesus illustrated what he taught. 
He taught us the meaning of love, humility 
and suffering, by his loving and humble life. 
He tells us what immortality is, by conquer- 
ing death. He shows us what baptism is, 
by going down into the water, and fulfilling 
all righteousness. After spending three years 
in the work of mercy, yonder on the moun- 
tain he took the last fond look at his beloved 
disciples, and said: *^Go ye into all the 
world and preach the gospel to every creature. 
He that believeth and is baptized shall be 
saved.'' Jesus began his public life by sub- 
mitting to baptism. He closed his public life 
by commanding his disciples to go and bap- 
tize all nations. The first and last public act 
of Jesus concerned baptism, 

2. Jesus gave the great commission. No 
one is authorized to preach only as he preaches 
under that commission. Likewise no one has 
the authority to change or omit one word in 
it. If one part is left out, it destroys the 
commission; destroy the commission, and you 
kill Christianity. 

The liberal Christians and Unitarians left 
baptism out of their religion, and now they 
claim Christ is not the divine Saviour of the 
world. Any church that ignores baptism ig- 
nores Christ. 

3. God said: **In all places where I re- 



CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 111 

cord my name, I will come unto thee and I 
will bless thee'' (Ex. 20: 24). 

God has stamped his holy name upon the 
ordinance of baptism. 

We are baptized in the name of the Father. 

4. Jesus left only two positive commands: 
The Lord^s Supper, to test the loyalty of 
the Christian; baptism, to test the loyalty of 
the unconverted. Dare we slight this institu- 
tion established by Christ? Christ left his 
apostles to execute his will. On the day of 
Pentecost those who were convinced that Jesus 
was the Christ asked, *What must we do?'* 
Peter, speaking under the influence of the 
Spirit, said, ''Repent, and be baptized." 

The first command given to inquiring men, 
after the church was established, was, ''Re- 
pent, and be baptized'' (Acts 2:38). 

TOO MUCH SHOULD NOT BE MADE OF BAPTISM. 

The denominations made too much out of 
It. Now to the proof of this : 

I. The Catholic Church makes baptism a 
saving ordinance without faith or repentance. 

Bishop Kendrick, of Philadelphia, said: 
"All of us are by nature children of wrath, 
being stained by sin. Baptism is the laver 
by which sin is washed away. It must then 
be applicable to infants." We say. No. If an 
infant dies, it goes to heaven. It needs no 



112 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

baptism. Bishops of the Catholic Church 
have refused to have children, dying without 
baptism, buried in a Catholic graveyard. They 
consider them polluted children. A Catholic 
in Crawfordsville, Indiana, told me that if an 
infant died without baptism it would be lost. 
To all these we say, "You make too much 
out of baptism." 

2. The Episcopal Catechism reads: 

Q. "How are we made members of the 
church ? 

A. "By baptism. 

Q. "Can forgiveness of sins be obtained 
out of the church? 

A. "No. 

Q. "Does baptism cleanse from all sins 
committed before it? 

A. "Yes, as well as original sin.'' 

Again, we say, "You make too much out 
of baptism." Baptism has nothing to do with 
cleansing us. The blood of Christ cleanses us 
from all sin. 

3. The Presbyterian Confession says: 

(i) "Baptism Is for the solemn admission 
of the party baptized Into the church. 

(2) "Out of the church there is no ordi- 
nary possibility of salvation. 

(3) "Therefore, without baptism, there Is 
no ordinary possibility of salvation." 

This makes It Impossible for any to be saved 



CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 113 

without baptism, infants as well as those who 
have never heard the gospel. The Confession 
says, ^'Baptism is a seal of the covenant of 
grace/' Once more we say, No. Baptism is 
not a seal. We are sealed by the Holy Spirit 
(Eph. 4:30). 

4. What do our Methodist brethren say? 

Read doctrinal tracts, published by the M. 
E. Conference of 1850, page 251: *'If infants 
are guilty of original sin, then they are proper 
subjects of baptism. Original sin cleaves to 
every child of man, and thereby they are chil- 
dren of wrath and liable to eternal damnation.'* 
Good John Wesley taught the same, and in a 
milder form the same doctrine is found in the 
Discipline. 

Read the prayer in the Discipline in the bap- 
tism of infants. 

To all these we say, You make baptism too 
prominent. Leave it where Christ and the 
apostles put it. Faith, repentance and baptism 
are joined together. If you ever become a 
Christian, you must believe, repent and be bap- 
tized. 

WHAT IS CHRISTIAN BAPTISM? 

Christ commanded his apostles to baptize. 
John baptized Jesus in Jordan. Philip baptized 
the eunuch in water. What did Jesus mean 
when he said, "Go, baptize"? Did he mean 

8 



114 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

three things, or the one specific act? What 
did John and Philip do when they baptized 
people? 

We get our word "baptize" from the Greek 
baptizo. 

The word **baptism" is not in the Old Testa- 
ment, but in the New Testament it occurs as 
follows: In the Gospels fifty-one times. Acts 
twenty-three times, the Epistles fifteen times. 
With its derivations it occurs 126 times in the 
New Testament. Is it reasonable to suppose 
that Jesus and the apostles would use a word 
126 times that means three things, nothing or 
everything? 

Three Greek words: 

Baptizo, Greek lexicographers, philoso- 
phers and historians, with one consent, render 
this word immerse, plunge or dip. Not one 
ever rendered it sprinkle. This word is used 
in the New Testament, and refers to Christian 
baptism. 

Rantizo, With the same universal consent 
this word is rendered sprinkle. It never re- 
fers to baptism. 

Cheo. This word is always translated pour. 
It IS never used for baptism. 

If sprinkling is baptism, Jesus would have 
used rantizo, not baptizo. 

In this discussion we are not looking after 
modes. If sprinkling is a mode of baptism, 



CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 115 

what is baptism? This is not to be decided 
by opinion, but by testimony. 

Let us hear the testimony of the scholars 
of the world: 

COMMENTATORS AND TRANSLATORS. 

1. John Calvin (Presbyterian) : *'The word 
'baptize' signifies to immerse. It is certain that 
immersion was the practice of the primitive 
church." 

2. Luther (Lutheran) : '^Baptism is a Greek 
word, and may be translated 'immerse.' I 
would have those who are to be baptized to be 
altogether dipped." 

3. John Wesley (Methodist) : ''Buried with 
him by baptism — alluding to the ancient manner 
of baptizing by immersion." 

4. Wall (Episcopalian) : "Immersion was 
in all probability the way in which our 
blessed Saviour, and for certain the way 
by which the ancient Christians, received their 
baptism." 

5. Brenner (Catholic) : "For thirteen hun- 
dred years was baptism an immersion of the 
person under water." 

6. Macknight (Presbyterian) : "In baptism 
the baptized person is buried under the water." 
"Christ submitted to be baptized; that is, to 
be buried under the water." 

7. Whitfield (Methodist) : "It is certain 



116 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

that the word of our text (Rom. 6:4) alludes 
to the manner of baptizing by immersion/' 

8. Stourdza (a native Greek) : ''The verb 
'baptize' has only one meaning. It signifies 
to plunge. Baptism and immersion are iden- 
tical. To say baptism by sprinkling is as if 
one would say immersion by sprinkling." 

9. Jeremiah (Greek patriarch) : "The an- 
cients did not sprinkle the candidate, but im- 
mersed him.'' 

10. St. Paul (a Christian) : "We are buried 
with him by baptism." 

11. Professor Porson: "The Baptists have 

the advantage of us. Baptism signifies immer- 

• J) 
sion. 

12. Kitto's Encyclopedia: "The whole per- 
son was immersed in water." 

13. Encyclopedia Americana: "Baptism; 
that is, dipping or Immersion." 

14. Brande's Encyclopedia: "Baptism was 
originally administered by Immersion." 

15. London Quarterly Review: "There can 
be no doubt that the original form of baptism 
was a complete Immersion In the deep baptismal 
waters. For four centuries no other form was 
known except In a monstrous case." 

16. Smith's Dictionary: ^'Baptism means 
immersion." 

17. Edinburgh Review: ^^They tell me that 
it was unnecessary to prove that the word 



CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 117 

(baptizo) signifies to dip, that I might have 
commenced with this as a fixed point universally 
admitted.'' 

1 8. The founder of the Presbyterian 
Church, John Calvin; the founder of the Luther- 
an Church, Martin Luther, and the founder 
of the Methodist Church, John Wesley, bear 
testimony that immersion was the one bap- 
tism that Jesus ordained. In his work on the 
"Sacrament of Baptism," Luther says, *^Baptism 
is a Greek word and should be translated im- 
merse." ^'Baptism signifies two things, death 
and resurrection. When the minister dips the 
child into water, that signifies death; when he 
draws him out, that signifies life. I would wish 
that the baptized should be totally immersed, 
according to the meaning of the word" (Lu- 
ther's ''Primary Works," p. 192; translated by 
Wace and Bucheim, London, 1883). The 
same facts can be found in his complete works, 
^^Opera Omnia/^ seven volumes, published In 
Wittemberg. A complete discussion of this 
whole matter can be found in ''Hand-book on 
Baptism," by Gospel Advocate Publishing Com- 
pany, Nashville. 

In 1889 Charles Wesley Bennett, a Method- 
ist professor of theology In Evanston, Illinois, 
published a book on Christian archseology, 
edited by Bishop J. F. Hurst. Now, this is 
from the highest authority in the M. E. Church. 



118 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

Hear him: **The customary mode was used by 
the apostles in baptism of the first converts. 
This was ordinarily by immersion/' Listen to 
John Wesley: **Mary Welch, aged eleven days, 
was baptized according to the custom of the 
first church, and the rule of the Church of 
England, by immersion." (See Journal, Vol. L, 
p. 20, Feb. 21, 1736.) In Journal, Vol. I., p. 
24, we get this history: *^I was asked to bap- 
tize the child of Mr. Parker, second bailiff of 
Savannah (Ga.), but Mrs. Parker told me 
neither she nor Mr. P. would consent to have 
it dipped. I said, 'If you certify that the child 
is weak, it will suffice to pour water upon it.' 
She replied, *It is not weak, but it shall not 
be dipped.' This argument I could not refute, 
and the child was baptized by another person." 
This did not end the matter. On the ist day of 
September, 1737, Mr. Wesley was tried by a 
jury of forty-four men, found guilty, and or- 
dered to leave the county. The fifth charge 
against him was, that he had broken the laws 
of the land, ''by refusing to baptize Mr. Park- 
er's child except by dipping." A strange record. 
The father of Methodism found guilty for re- 
fusing to baptize a baby. The record of this 
trial can be found in the court proceedings of 
Georgia. There were other charges against 
Mr. Wesley, but the fifth charge was promi- 
nent In the trial. 



CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 119 

Historians state facts. Hear them: 

CHURCH HISTORIANS. 

19. Mosheim: "In this [the first] century, 
baptism was administered in convenient places, 
without the public assemblies, and by immers- 
ing the candidates wholly in water" (Vol. I., 
p. 87, ed. Murdoch) . He testifies to the same 
for the second and third centuries. 

20. Neander: '^Baptism was originally ad- 
ministered by immersion, and many of the com- 
parisons of St Paul allude to this form of its 
administration" {History of the Christian 
Church, p. 197, ed. Rose). 

21. Smith: '*The regular mode of baptism 
was by immersion, but it was administered by 
sprinkling or affusion to persons who lay sick 
or dying; and when performed in such cases It 
was called clinical baptism" {Students Ecclesi* 
astical History, p. 172). 

22. Brenner: *'For thirteen hundred years 
baptism was administered by immersion. Sprink- 
ling was disputed and even forbidden." 

23. Philip Schaff (Presbyterian) : **Immer- 
sion and not sprinkling was unquestionably the 
original form of baptism. This is shown by 
the Greek word baptizo, used to designate the 
rite, and from the baptism of John, which was 
performed in the Jordan (en — -Matt. 3 : 6, com- 
pare with 16) ; also eis to lordanen [into the 



120 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

Jordan] (Mark 1:9). Furthermore, by the 
New Testament comparisons of baptism with 
the passage through the Red Sea (i Cor. 10: 
2) ; with the flood ( i Pet. 3:21); with a bath 
(Eph. 5:26; Tit. 3:5); with a burial and 
resurrection ( Rom. 6:4; Col. 2 : 12). Finally, 
by the general usage of ecclesiastical antiquity, 
which was always immersion (as it is to this 
day in the Oriental and also in the Graeco- 
Russian churches), pouring and sprinkling being 
substituted only in cases of urgent necessity, 
such as sickness and approaching death" {Hist. 
of Apostolic Churchy pp. 568, 569). 

In a late publication (1885) ^e writes fur- 
ther on these ^^comparisons," that they "are, 
all in favor of immersion, as is fully admitted 
by the best scholars. Catholic and Protestant, 
English and German" ( Teaching of the Twelve 
Apostles, pp. 55, ^6^ note). 

24. Dean Stanley (Episcopalian) : "The 
Dean's article ten years ago made a stir in the 
theological world. You will find the passage 
in the author's ^Christian Institutions' " (p. 17, 
Harper's edition) : 

We now pass to the changes in the form itself. For 
the first thirteen centuries the almost universal practice 
was that of which we read in the New Testament, and 
which is the very meaning of the word baptize — that 
those who were baptized were plunged, submerged, im- 
mersed in the water. That practice is still, as we have 
seen, continued in Eastern churches. And the cold climate 



CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 121 

of Russia has not been found an obstacle to its contin- 
uance throughout that vast empire. Even in the Church of 
England it is still observed in theory. The rubric in the 
Public Baptism of Infants enjoins that, unless for special 
causes, they are to be dipped, not sprinkled. Edward the 
Sixth and Elizabeth were both immersed. But since the 
beginning of the seventeenth century, the practice has be- 
come exceedingly rare. With the few exceptions just men- 
tioned, the whole of the Western churches have now sub- 
stituted for the ancient bath the ceremony of letting fall a 
few drops of water on the face. The reason of the change 
is obvious. The practice of immersion, though peculiarly 
suitable to the southern and eastern countries for which it 
was designed, was not found reasonable in the countries of 
the North and West. Beginning in the thirteenth century, 
it has gradually driven the ancient usage out of the whole 
of Europe. It followed, no doubt, the examples of the 
Apostles and of their Master. It has the sanction of the 
venerable churches of the early ages, and of the sacred 
countries of the East. Baptism by sprinkling was rejected 
by the whole ancient church (except in the rare cases of 
death-beds or extreme necessity) as no baptism at all. Al- 
most the first exception was the heretic Novatian. It still 
has the sanction of the powerful religious community which 
numbers among its members such noble characters as John 
Bunyan and Robert Hall. 

"It is the purpose of lexicographers to tell what words 
mean. The New Testament was written in Greek, and hence 
Greek lexicographers tell us what haptizo meant in the days 
of Christ." 

25. Liddell and Scott: ^^BapHzo, to dip in 
or under water." 

26. Robinson (Presbyterian) : '*To immerse, 
to sink." 

27. Dr. Anthon: "The primary meaning of 



122 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

the word Is to dip or immerse. Sprinkling and 
pouring are out of the question/' 

28. Bagster: ''To dip or immerse." 

29. Greenfield: ''To immerse, submerge, 
sink." 

30. Scapula (1579): *'To dip or immerse; 
to cleanse." 

HEAR CRITICS OF DIFFERENT CENTURIES. 

31. Barnabas, 95 A. D. : "We go down 
into the water full of pollutions, but come up 
again, bringing forth fruit." 

32. Justin Martyr, 144 A. D. : "Then we 
bring them to some place where there is water; 
there they are washed in water." 

33. TertuUian, 204: "There is no difference 
between them whom John dipped in Jordan and 
them whom Peter dipped in the Tiber/' 

34. Gregory, 360: "We are buried with 
Christ by baptism." 

35. Ambrose, 375: "Thou wast asked, 
Dost thou believe? Thou sayest, / do, and was 
immersed." 

36. Stephen IL, 753: "Pouring or sprink- 
ling is only admitted in cases of necessity." 
(In case of sickness.) 

37. Common Prayer Book of Edward VL, 
1540: "The priest dips it [the candidate] in 
water." 



CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 123 

38. Stephanus, 1572: ^^Baptizo, to im- 



merse." 



39. Dean Stanley, 1880: "The universal 
practice of the church for thirteen centuries 



was immersion." 



40. Schaff, 1885: "Baptism is to immerse 



in water." 



If space would permit, we could quote many 
Greek dictionaries testifying that baptizo means 
immerse. There is not one Greek lexicon in 
Europe or America that defines baptizo "to 
sprinkle." All do define it "to dip" or "to im- 
merse." Also, we have examined the word in 
the classic Greek, and it always means "dip" 
or "immerse." Josephus also used the word 
with the same meaning. When Peter said, "Re- 
pent, and be baptized," the dwellers from thir- 
teen nations heard him. He used language that 
they understood, for he had the miraculous gift 
of tongues (languages). What did these peo- 
ple understand by "be baptized"? They heard 
Peter speak in their own tongue. Watch, then, 
and see what they do. In seven centuries eight 
of the nations here represented had the Bible 
in their own language, and the word in their 
language for baptizo meant to dip or immerse. 
Out of thirty-six ancient translators, not one 
ever renders baptizo "sprinkle." No Greek 
scholar in any century ever translated baptizo 
"sprinkle." 



124 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

GREEK CHURCH. 

The Greek needed no translator. He knew 
the meaning of the word. There are to-day 
eighty-five million in the Greek Church. From 
the days of the apostles to the present, Greeks 
have been immersed. Millions of them have 
been immersed. This is not the voice of mil- 
lions of men, but of millions of Greeks, who 
know their own language. 

THE MAJORITY. 

Some are anxious to make the comparison 
of majorities. Tell us that the majority prac- 
tices sprinkling. Let us see. All (with the ex- 
ception of a few sick) practiced immersion 
for thirteen centuries. The entire Greek or 
eastern half of the church always practiced 
immersion. In churches that practice sprink- 
ling many of the candidates are immersed. 
The McLiodists have a membership of about 
four million. The Baptists (under all names) 
have about the same. The Greeks (eighty-five 
million) all immersed. There are only a few 
outside of the Catholic Church who have not 
been immersed. 

About seven persons have been immersed 
to every one that has been sprinkled. 

Immersion is not in doubt. All accept im- 
mersion as Christian baptism. When one is 
immersed he never demands sprinkling. Thou- 



CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 125 

sands upon thousands who have been sprinkled 
demand immersion. 

There is safe ground. If you doubt your 
baptism, you, and not God, are responsible for 
your doubt. 

A few years ago, while immersing a num- 
ber of persons in California, an old lady came 
up and said, *Will you immerse me?" We 
took her confession, and as she came up out 
of the water she said, so that all of us heard 
her, ''Now I know I am right, but I have been 
doubting my baptism for forty years." She 
had been sprinkled. 

Argument from the New Testament: 

1. John baptized in Jordan. 

And there went out unto him all the land of Judea, and 
they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river 
of Jordan, confessing their sins (Mark 1:5). 

2. Jesus was baptized in Jordan and after 
baptism came up out of the water. 

And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came 
from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in 
Jordan. 

And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw 
the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending 
upon him: 

And the re came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art 
my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (Mark 1 : 9-11). 

3. Much water is required. 

And John also was baptizing in ^non near to Salim, 
because there was much water there: and they came, and 
were baptized (John 3:23). 



126 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

4. Philip and the eunuch went down into 
the water and came up out of the water. 

And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain 
water : and the eunuch said, See, here is water ; what doth 
hinder me to be baptized? 

And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, 
thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that 
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 

And he commanded the chariot to stand still : and they 
went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; 
and he baptized him. 

And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit 
of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him 
no more: and he went on his way rejoicing (Acts 8:36-39). 

5. Baptism represents a birth. 

Jesus answered. Verily, verily, I say unto thee. Except a 
man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter 
into the kingdom of God (John 3:5). 

6. Baptism represents a burial. 

Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen 
with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath 
raised him from the dead (Col. 2: 12). 

7. It represents a resurrection. 

Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into 
Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 

Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death : 
that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory 
of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of 
life (Rom. 6:3, 4). 

8. It represents a planting. 

For if we have been planted together in the likeness of 
his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection 
(Rom. 6:5). 



CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 127 

9. The body Is washed. 

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of 
faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, 
and our bodies washed with pure water (Heb. 10:22). 

Let us now see what baptism requires ; also, 
what immersion requires, and last, what sprink- 
ling requires. 

Baptism requires: 

1. Water (Acts 8:36; Acts 10:47). 

2. Much water (John 3: 23). 

3. Going to the water (Acts 8:36; Mark 
1:9). 

4. Going down into the water (Acts 8 : 38). 

5. Coming up out of the water (Matt. 3: 
16; Acts 8 : 39). 

6. Form of birth (John 3:5). 

7. Form of burial (Col. 2: 12). 

8. Form of resurrection (Rom. 6:4). 

9. Form of planting (covered up) (Rom. 

6:5). 

10. Washing of the body (Heb. 10:22). 
Baptism requires these ten things. Put 

in parallel columns immersion and sprinkling, 
and see which fills the requirements : 

IMMERSION. SPRINKLING. 

1. Water. Yes. 1. Water. Yes. 

2. Much water. Yes. 2. Much water. No, few 

drops only. 

3. Going to water. Yes. 3. Going to water. No; 

water brought. 

4. Going into water. Yes 4. Going into water. No. 



128 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

5. Coming out of water. 5. Coming out of water. 

Yes. No. 

6. Form of birth. Yes. 6. Form of birth. No. 

7. Form of burial. Yes. 7. Form of burial. No. 

8. Form of resurrection. 8. Form of resurrection. 

Yes. No. 

9. Form of planting. Yes. 9. Form of planting. No. 
10. Body washed. Yes. 10. Body washed. No, fore- 
head wet. 

Immersion fulfills the ten requirements. 
Sprinkling fails in nine points, hence is not 
Scriptural baptism. 

We have given you the testimony of forty 
lexicographers, besides encyclopedias and his- 
tories. Forty of the best witnesses, who have 
lived from the days of the Saviour to the pres- 
ent time, give unfaltering testimony in favor 
of immersion and against sprinkling. The 
testimony is so strong against sprinkling that 
if life and death depended upon the evidence 
of the witnesses, it is so great that any jury 
would bring in a verdict of guilty. 

There is no crossing of evidence. All agreed 
that immersion was the apostolic baptism. 

Some may ask, 'When, where and by 
whom was the change made from immersion 
to sprinkling?'^ The answer to these questions 
may be found in the Edinburgh Encyclopedia. 
(Article, ''Baptism.") 

1. **The first law for sprinkling was obtained in the fol- 
lowing manner: Pope Stephen II., being driven from home 
by Adolphus, King of the Lombards, in 753 A. D., fled 



CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 129 

to Pepin, who a short time before had usurped the crown 
of France. Whilst he remained there, the Monks of Cressy, 
in Brittany, consulted him whether, in case of necessity, 
baptism poured on the head of the infant would be lawful. 
Stephen replied that it would. But though the truth of the 
fact be allowed (which, however, some Catholics deny), yet 
pouring or sprinkling was admitted only in cases of neces- 
sity. It was not till the year 1311 that the legislature, in 
council held at Ravenna, declared immersion or sprinkling 
to be indifferent. In Scotland, however, sprinkling was never 
practiced in ordinary cases till after the Reformation (about 
the middle of the sixteenth century). From Scotland it 
made its way into England in the reign of Elizabeth, but was 
not authorized in the established church." 

2. Rev. O'Reilly, bishop of the Catholic 
Church, said that the Catholic Church changed 
the ordinance. 

3. Dean Stanley says: ''The ancient mode 
of baptism was immersion. The church changed 
the ordinance." 

4. Henry Ward Beecher says: ''When an 
ordinance becomes irksome, the church can 
change it." 

5. John Calvin claimed that the church had 
the right to change the ordinance from immer- 
sion to sprinkling. 

6. Hear the Catholic bishop. Examine Am, 
Enc, Vol. XIV., p. 396, first column: "The 
chief practices on which changes have taken 
place are the manner of administering baptism 
and the Eucharist. The solemn mode of hap' 
tism was originally by immersion. The church 
claims the right to regulate, at her just discre- 



130 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

tion, the manner of administering sacraments." 
Here we find the answer. The Pope of 
Rome, claiming infallibility, claimed the right 
to change the ordinance, and did change it. No 
church ever practiced anything but immersion, 
unless it came out of . the Catholic Church, 
where it learned its lesson. Choose you which 
you will serve, God or man. 

The leading evangelists have been immersed. 
B. Fay Mills was immersed at Northfield, 
by a Baptist preacher; N. H. Harraman, the 
Boston revivalist, was immersed; Major Whit- 
tle was immersed; Munhall, co-worker with 
Moody, was immersed; Henry Farley, the Eng- 
lish evangelist, was immersed; Yatman, the 
great Y. M. C. A. revivalist, was immersed. 
Why were these great men immersed? They 
answer. In giving Bible readings in their meet- 
ings they were convinced that Jesus was im- 
mersed, and, to be loyal to him, they must go 
where he goes. 

Dr. Arthur T. Pierson, of world-wide mis- 
sionary fame, the editor of the Missionary Re- 
view, a Presbyterian divine, was immersed by 
the brother of Charles Spurgeon. 

SUBJECT OF BAPTISM. 

Penitent believers are proper subjects of 
baptism. Jesus said, '*He that believeth and is 
baptized shall be saved." Peter said, "Re- 



CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 131 

pent, and be baptized/' Baptism without faith 
is of no avail. One might be baptized a thou- 
sand times without faith and repentance and it 
would be mockery. You sprinkle, pour or im- 
merse a man who does not believe, and he has 
not Scripturally been baptized. We may take 
a dollar and dip it in water; it is immersed, but 
not Scripturally baptized. If we pour water 
on it or sprinkle water on it, it is not Scriptu- 
rally baptized. Why? Because there is some- 
thing wrong with the dollar. Sprinkle it, pour 
it or immerse it, and it is not baptized. It 
can not believe or repent, hence can not be 
baptized Scripturally. Yet it is as much a 
subject of baptism as an infant. The infant 
does not believe, hence can not be Scrip- 
turally baptized. Reader, if you were sprin^ 
kled before you were old enough to believe, 
be assured you have not received Christian 
baptism. 

To become a Christian Is a voluntary act. 
We must come into the church knowing the 
Lord (Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 8:11). The Jew 
came into the Jewish kingdom by birth, not 
knowing the Lord. We enter the kingdom of 
Christ from choice. We can not enter till we 
choose. The infant does not know the Lord, caa 
not choose, and can not enter the church. The 
infant, therefore, can not be Scripturally bap- 
tized. Belief must precede baptism. 



132 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

DESIGN OF BAPTISM. 

Baptism coupled with faith and repentance, 
is for the remission of past sins. All will 
admit the following proposition: He who be- 
lieves that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, 
repents of his sins, confesses Christ, is bap- 
tized in the name of the Father and of the Son 
and of the Holy Spirit, and lives a pure life, 
will be saved. This will save every man. This 
is sufficient. Let us preach it without any 
mystery. 

In giving the commission, Christ said, ''He 
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." 
Dare any one say, ''He that believeth and is not 
baptized shall be saved''? 

Jesus told the truth when he said It takes 
both faith and baptism to save a man. 

He who says, "We are saved by faith only," 
contradicts Christ. 

The objector says: "Jesus said, 'He that 
believeth not shall he damnedf hence, all de- 
pends upon belief." 

True, damnation depends upon one thing, 
lack of faith. Salvation depends upon two 
things, belief and baptism. One thing, iinhe' 
lief, will damn a man, but it takes two things 
to save him. When a man disbelieves God's 
word, he calls God a liar. When a man makes 
God a liar, that Is sufficient sin to damn him. 



CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 133 

Peter said, **Repent, and be baptized in the 
name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins'' 
(Acts 2:38). 

Now, can language be plainer than this? 
Christ said that belief and baptism would save 
a man. 

Peter says that repentance and baptism are 
for the remission of sins. 

These two passages prove the point without 
further argument. 

Many other Scriptures could be brought to 
sustain this point, but to deny that repentance 
and baptism, both of them, not one, are for 
the remission of sins, is to deny the words of 
the Spirit. 

On the day of Pentecost they cried, "Men 
and brethren, what must we do?" The answer 
was quickly given, "Repent, and be baptized for 
the remission of sins." If Peter did not mean 
that baptism was necessary to forgiveness of 
sins, then he deceived them and did not answer 
their question. 

To make this claim is to accuse the Spirit 
of deception. Christ said, "Except a man be 
born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter 
the kingdom of heaven." If Christ says you 
can not enter the kingdom without you are born 
of water, how can you? 

To be born of water is Christian baptism. 
We are baptized into Christ (Gal. 3: 27). To 



134 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

be in Christ is to be in his body, the church. 

Peter says baptism saves us ( i Pet. 3: 21). 

Let us now hear Paul (Eph. 4 : 4-6) : ''There 
is one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one 
faith, one baptism, one God and Father." In 
this outline of Christian doctrine, there are 
seven units. Are these seven units of belief 
essential to salvation or not? Has the apostle 
been laying down non-essentials among essen- 
tials ? 

1. One Body, the Church, that Is essential 
(Col. i: 18). 

2. One Spirit, essential to salvation. 

3. One Hope, essential. "We are saved 
by hope'' (Rom. 8:24). 

4. One Lord, essential (Acts 4: 12). 

5. One Faith, for without faith it is im- 
possible to please God. 

6. One Baptism, one, for baptism saves us 
( I Pet. 3:21). 

7. One Father, essential; for it is God that 
justifieth. 

How can you account for the fact that the 
apostles, in giving articles of faith, should lay 
down six essentials and one non-essential among 
them? 

The only way you can account for this is, 
men want baptism to be a non-essential. No; 
there is not one non-essential among the seven. 
Yet your preachers call baptism a ''pitiful 



CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 135 

ceremony," or a **non-essential/* The name of 
God is stamped upon the institution of bap- 
tism. We are baptized in the name of the 
Father. God said: ''In all places where I 
record my name I will come and bless thee" 
(Ex. 20: 24). 

"He who despises an ordinance of God, 
despises the God of the ordinance." The great 
God of the heavens is under the blessed neces- 
sity of making laws for the government of all 
who have lived upon earth, who now live upon 
earth, and who will dwell here to the end of 
time. Then, look upward, see stars and suns 
rising up before you. Borrow the telescope of 
the astronomer, and look beyond, and behold 
new worlds coming into view. After all this, 
look at yourself, and see who you are that you 
should call God's law ''a poor, pitiful cere- 
mony." Can it be possible that the God who 
rides upon the storm; who whirls the planets 
through space; who made the heavens and 
stretched them out like a curtain; who laid the 
foundation of the earth; who weighs the moun- 
tains, and holds the hills In balances; ''who 
gathers the winds in his fist," and picks up the 
isles as a little thing; who walks upon the wings 
of the wind — can it be possible that such a be- 
ing, who should stoop to stamp his holy name 
upon the ordinance of baptism, will look with 
any degree of allowance upon haughty man, who 



136 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

calls it **a poor, pitiful ceremony, a mere form, 
or a non-essentiar'? 

We shudder for the presumptuous man who 
thus hates God's ordinance, and despises the 
God of the ordinance. 

We beseech you, stand in awe and fear^ 
and tremble. **Be not deceived. God is not 
mocked." 



X. 

ALL AUTHORITY IS GIVEN UNTO JESUS 

Ever since the Omaha Convention there has 
been among some of our ministers a tendency 
toward a board of authority, or an assembly 
that shall act for churches. Slowly and surely 
as we have gone across the years we have 
headed toward this general board of manage- 
ment. One of the speakers in the Omaha Con- 
vention said: **If our Conventions do not afford 
us opportunity to express ourselves upon public 
questions, we need an assembly where we can go 
on record in favor of certain important religious 
measures." The assembly that creates this 
board of management is to be authoritative and 
speak for the churches, and yet all this in the 
face of the fact that Jesus said, '*A11 authority 
is given unto me." If all authority is given unto 
Jesus, assemblies and individuals have no au- 
thority. We have duties and privileges, and 
these duties and privileges are thoroughly out- 
lined for us. Jesus is our King; kings have au- 
thority to make law. Subjects obey, they do 
not make law. God is the Father of the 
heavenly family. Children do not have au- 

137 



138 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

thority to make rules and laws for other chil- 
dren. The father does that; the children can 
not create authoritative assemblies. The father 
gives orders. We are members of one fold; the 
shepherd has authority over the flock. Sheep 
can not pass laws governing other sheep. Jesus 
is the Shepherd. 

The church universal has no authority to 
create new laws or teach new doctrines; it gets 
its marching orders from the Captain. It is 
the church's duty to obey law, not to create law 
or promulgate theories. In Jesus Christ, God 
has said all that he has to say to the church; 
the ritual was adopted in heaven. The church's 
duty is to comply with God's orders. The 
church has been rent by discord and weakened 
by dissensions from the mistaken idea that as- 
semblies, boards and conclaves have authority to 
speak for God's people, and that this voice of 
the conclave is the voice of God. 

The popes claimed authority and put one 
hundred million people to death, and did It in 
the name of religion. The English Church 
claimed authority, and it tortured and killed 
men in the name of the church. The Established 
Church of Virginia claimed authority, and sent 
men to prison for holding prayer-meetings in 
the homes of the sick. The Puritans claimed 
authority, and banished Roger Williams. The 
Church of Rome claimed authority, and changed 



AUTHORITY GIVEN UNTO JESUS 139 

the ordinance of Jesus Christ by a legislative act. 
The Greek Church claimed authority, and it 
added five ordinances to the church. The West- 
minster Assembly, 1643, claimed that it had 
authority, and it substituted sprinkling for New 
Testament baptism by a vote of twenty-four for 
and twenty-four against the substitute, and 
Bishop Lightfoot cast the deciding vote. In 
England and on this continent men were im- 
prisoned because they would not comply with 
the church's orders and have their children 
sprinkled. Did these assemblies voice God's 
will? Was not the Westminster Assembly com- 
posed of as holy men as the Louisville mass- 
meeting, and was not its voice as much the voice 
of God as any assembly or convention that ever 
met? 

In an address at our last Convention at 
Louisville, one of the speakers declared that the 
church had authority to decide questions, and 
that an assembly can act for the church, and 
that the voice of the church is the voice of God. 
The church universal has no authority, hence it 
can have no delegated authoritative voice. The 
body of Christ has no headquarters outside of 
heaven, no habitation, no visible existence, no 
organization, no authority, and hence no power 
to act, meet or decide upon questions. No sub- 
ject can come before it for discussion. The 
church universal is an idealization, and hence 



140 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

can speak for no one. It has no authority to 
assemble and decide upon any subject. The 
local congregation has duties, privileges, organi- 
zation, power to act and the oversight of its 
members. Its authority, if we call it authority, 
is delegated and restricted. The local authority 
of the congregation does not extend beyond its 
own members; it has no authority over any 
other congregation. In order to sustain his 
position, he quoted and misquoted Scriptures 
which, in my opinion, had no bearing whatever 
on the subject. The advocate of any folly can 
find some supposed holy text to sustain his posi- 
tion. He champions a quotation from Dr. 
Broadus, ^^Whatsoever Christ's people may de- 
cide is ratified in heaven." If his contention in 
the Louisville meeting meant anything, it meant 
this: That these holy men assembled in the 
Louisville mass-meeting had Scriptural authority 
to decide upon the questions under consideration, 
and that the voice of that assembly was the 
voice of God. If that was not his position, his 
speech had no place in the discussion, and the 
Scripture he quoted had no bearing upon the 
subject. 

Here are passages quoted that sustain his 
position: 

I. ''Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth 
shall be bound in heaven'' (Matt. i6: 19). This 
promise was given to Peter. Whatsoever thou 



AUTHORITY GIVEN UNTO JESUS 141 

— Singular number, second person. The church 
did not have the keys to the kingdom. They 
were to unlock the kingdom. The church has 
no authority to lock or unlock, bind or loose. 

2. 'Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth 
shall be bound in heaven*' (Matt. i8: i8). 
This was personal instruction to the persons 
present. ''Ye'* — second person, plural. The 
antecedent of *'ye'' was ''the disciples" there 
present, and he was teaching them the lesson 
of forgiveness, not authority; authority was not 
under consideration. 

3. "Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are re- 
mitted unto them" (John 20: 23). In a closed 
room he met his apostles and bestowed upon 
them the Holy Spirit and gave them power to 
go forth and preach the remission of sins. God 
forgives sins; assemblies can not. 

4. "To whom ye forgive anything, I forgive 
also" (2 Cor. 2: 10). This referred to a vile 
man who had injured the church, but who had 
repented. Paul merely says he had forgiven the 
offense, and commends them for forgiving the 
penitent brother. It is important to note that 
this brother had repented, and Paul tells the 
brothers to forgive him as he (Paul) had done; 
to forgive his offense, not his sins. God alone 
does that. Paul had judged the man, and not 
the church; he, by his inspired wisdom, passed 
judgment upon him while the church was as- 



142 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

sembled. Paul, not the church, delivered him to 
Satan (i Cor. 5:2-5), perhaps afflicted him 
with some bodily punishment. The brethren did 
not forgive sin, but forgave the man's offense. 

5. '*That if you ask anything in my name, 
I will do It" (John 14: 14). That promise was 
to the apostles. Professor McGarvey said, 
*'Their requests would be granted because the 
Holy Spirit asked.'' In this same chapter Jesus 
says, *'The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, shall 
teach you all things, and bring to your remem- 
brance all that I said to you." This language 
is not of universal application. He has not 
taught us all things, he does not bring to our 
remembrance anything. The apostles spoke In 
miraculous tongues. God gave them the power 
of tongues; we have to dig out the foreign 
languages. Prophecy, the gift of tongues, super- 
natural power, were given to the apostles, but 
these powers were transitory, not abiding. The 
church in Its creative period possessed these 
supernatural powers that were unerring. These 
men chosen of God could drink deadly poison, 
handle serpents, heal the sick and speak with 
authority through Inspired wisdom. Does any 
one think these powers exist In the church to- 
day? If he does, let him go to Utah and they 
will make him a bishop In six weeks. 

In Luke 12:12 Jesus says: ''The Holy 
Spirit shall teach you what you ought to say." 



AUTHORITY GIVEN UNTO JESUS 143 

It Will not be them asking, but the Spirit asks 
through them; hence Jesus gives them what 
God's Spirit requests. This seeking after author- 
ity Jesus rebukes. **You know that the rulers 
of the Gentiles lord it over them and they 
exercise authority over them ; not so shall it be 
among you" (Matt. 20:25). 

The speaker said, ^^The Christian congrega- 
tion can representatively forgive sins." That is 
a dangerous statement. His reference to 2 Cor. 
2: 10 is not well taken. Paul and the brethren 
merely forgave the man of the offense he had 
committed against them and against the church ; 
if he was forgiven of the sins he committed 
against God, God forgave the sins. Paul, not 
the brethren, judged him; Paul, not the church, 
delivered him to Satan. The brethren, being 
gathered together, neither judged nor punished; 
they forgave his offense, not his sins. 

The body of Christ, the church universal, 
does not forgive sins, transact business, assem- 
ble, execute or speak authoritatively. The local 
congregation has a voice ; not so with the church 
at large. It is a spiritual body and its author- 
ity IS in heaven. Most of the instructions, 
commands and admonitions are placed upon the 
individual. The burden of preaching the Word 
IS largely the work of the individual. 

Religious and civil combinations are impor- 
tant; many things can be done by co-operation 



144 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

that are hard to do by individual effort. We 
must not ignore organized effort, yet nine- 
tenths of our work must be done by the indi- 
vidual. Whenever we concentrate all our effort 
on organization we will become a disappearing 
brotherhood; it's sure death to neglect indi- 
vidual effort. 

We make speeches, beg for money, organize 
societies and send preachers to Africa, and that 
is right; but while we are glorying in our mis- 
sion work, the Mohammedan without organiza- 
tion, the individual, goes shouting, ''God and 
Mohammed call all men to prayer," and he 
makes one hundred converts where we make 
one. If all of God's people could realize that 
each man has his individual work we could con- 
vert the world in five years. We contribute a 
few cents to the society and feel that our work 
is done. Individual effort must be encouraged. 
Let every one carry his own burden. Speed the 
effort of the missionary society; encourage the 
effort of the individual; individual effort can do 
many glorious deeds that will never be done by 
organizations. If we were compelled to give 
up individual effort, or the organized work, 
without one moment's hesitancy I would say, 
''Abandon all combines." The great work of 
the early church was largely individual. 

Some tell us that we need an authoritative 
board in order to drive corruption out of the 



AUTHORITY GIVEN UNTO JESUS 145 

church. The vice, dishonesty, hypocrisy and im- 
purity in the church may well alarm us. Any 
plan that will drive impure men from the pulpit 
and vileness from the church will have my 
hearty support. But will an authoritative board 
help us? I know of no way of judging of the 
future but by the past. The Catholic Church 
has absolute authority; in local communities the 
priest's word is law, yet I am satisfied that the 
ministry in that religious society is the most im- 
moral in the world. Priestcraft and church 
authority have increased vice. The Church of 
England has its authoritative assembly. Has it 
Improved its ministry? Dean Stanley, in speak- 
ing of the preachers, said: ^'Morality did not 
enter into religion. Many of the vilest men in 
England were preachers." The M. E. Church 
has an authoritative board, yet when some were 
to be chosen bishops, telegrams flew to the con- 
ference from all parts making grave charges 
against candidates. But a few days ago, a 
preacher in one of the churches who have au- 
thority committed a great crime, and some of 
the preachers said, "We knew he was guilty 
years ago." A Congregational preacher said 
to me, *'Our people are loaded down with an 
impure ministry." 

Has authority cleansed the pulpit? I believe 
that the ministry of the Christian Church Is the 
grandest and purest of any ministry In the land. 

10 



146 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

No authoritative board is necessary. If a man 
is impure, report him to the local congregation, 
where there is power to cleanse. Let the local 
church rebuke, reprove, admonish. If his crime 
is such that his congregation can not remedy it, 
turn the man over to the civil authority. When- 
ever we create an authoritative body we are 
heading towards Rome and seeking to lord 
it over our brethren. 



XI. 

WHAT MUST THE SINNER DO TO BE SAVED? 

There are three salvations mentioned in the 
Bible — universal, special and eternal. The uni- 
versal salvation pertains to the kingdom of 
nature, the saving of the physical body. Paul 
says to them in the shipwreck, * 'Except these 
abide in the ship, ye cannot be 'saved'' (Acts 
27:31). That referred to the physical salva- 
tion. God sends the sunshine and the rain upon 
the just and the unjust. In order to save this 
physical life, we must all eat and drink and 
breathe. In the discussion of the subject, this 
salvation is not under consideration. The eternal 
salvation comes to them that obey the Lord 
(Heb. 5:9). When Paul says, ''Work out 
your salvation with fear and trembling," he re- 
fers to the eternal salvation. We obtain that 
everlasting salvation by service. It is not under 
discussion in this sermon. There is a special sal- 
vation from sin, offered to them that obey Him 
and serve. We have redemption through his 
blood in the kingdom of grace (Col. i : 13, 14). 
In this salvation that we are discussing there 
are three salvations and three kingdoms. The 

147 



148 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

universal, the kingdom of nature; the everlast- 
ing, the kingdom of glory, and the special, the 
kingdom of grace. In the question, ''What 
must a sinner do to be saved?" I am not asking 
what must the Christian do to be saved, what 
must the child do to be saved, what must the 
irresponsible do to be saved; but what must the 
man do who has an opportunity to obey? He 
is a sinner, and hence not in a saved condition. 
What must he do to become a saved man and 
change his state? 

This question is asked three times, and only 
three, in the New Testament. The answer Is 
different In each case. 

1. Acts 16:30 the jailer said, ''What must 
I do to be saved?'' The apostle answered, *'Be- 
lieve on the Lord Jesus Christ." 

2. Acts 2 : 37 they cried out, "What shall 
we do?" Peter said, *'Repent, and be baptized.'* 

3. Acts 22:10 tells us that Paul said, 
"What shall I do. Lord?" In verse 16 he is 
commanded to "arise, and be baptized." 

Paul tells the jailer to believe, Peter tells 
those on the day of Pentecost to repent and be 
baptized, while Ananias said, "Be baptized." 

Yet these answers are not so different as one 
might expect. I meet a man and say to him, 
"Give me the direction to the city." He replies, 
"Go about one mile; at the schoolhouse turn to 
the left; one mile farther you will pass a large 



WHAT MUST THE SINNER DO? 149 

red barn, turn to the right, cross the river 
bridge, and the road leads directly to the city." 
A mile away I meet a man, and in directing me 
he says, **When you come to the large barn turn 
to the right." He said nothing about the school- 
house; I had passed it. The third man would 
tell me to cross the bridge and go directly into 
the city. He mentioned not the barn; I had 
passed it. I am standing in front of a church 
house; I ask a man how I can get into the 
house. He tells me to take the three steps 
that lead up to the door. I take one step, and 
ask a bystander what I must do to enter the 
house; he tells me to take two steps. When I 
have taken these two steps I am informed, in 
order to enter the house, that I must take one 
step. Paul tells the jailer to take the first step, 
believe. Peter tells the people on the day of 
Pentecost to take the next two steps. He knew 
they believed, hence he did not tell them to take 
that step. They had passed that point, Ana- 
nias said to Paul, "Be baptized;" that is, take 
the last step. He had passed the other two 
points. 

The three steps into the church are faith, 
repentance and baptism. These terms are 
stated or implied in every conversion. These 
terms of pardon are the conditions upon which 
God proposes to admit men into the church. 

The great commission contains all these 



150 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

terms. In Mark i6:i6 Jesus uses belief 
(faith) and baptism. In Luke 24:47 Jesus 
tells them that repentance shall be preached 
in his name. Here, then, we have all three 
terms. To the unbeliever, God says, '^Be- 
lieve;'' to the believer he says, ''Repent;" to the 
penitent believer he says, ''Be baptized;" to the 
baptized believer he says, "Grow in grace." 
Every order or society has a ritual by which 
members are admitted. No one can get in the 
Oddfellows' lodge only as he complies with the 
ritual. He may do every good act that the 
Oddfellows do, but that does not make him an 
Oddfellow. He must comply with the steps of 
initiation. Jesus has given us a ritual by which 
we are to initiate people into his kingdom. A 
man may go and do every benevolent act en- 
joined upon Christians; that does not make him 
a Christian. He must comply with God's ritual 
— faith, repentance, baptism. These steps, if 
honestly taken, will place one into the church, 
Christ's body. When people ask what they 
must do to be saved, let us give what God says 
about it. I would not give anything for the 
opinions of men. God's word is eminently 
better. 

REPENTANCE. 

Sorrow for sin is not repentance. Paul tells 
us that godly sorrow worketh repentance (2 
Cor. 7: 10). 



WHAT MUST THE SINNER DO? 151 

Neither sorrowing, praying nor agonizing is 
repentance. We are told that repentance is 
a change of mind, and then we are informed 
that the mind must be changed in order to be- 
lieve, hence repentance comes before faith. 
This error originated from the wrong appli- 
cation given to the phrase *'a change of mind." 
The mind is divided into three divisions: intel- 
lect, sensibilities and will. The change of our 
way of thinking, a change of feeling, or a 
change of the will, may properly be called a 
change of mind. 

The trouble with those who put repentance 
before faith is that they use mind and intellect 
as synonyms. The change of the intellect is not 
repentance. Faith changes the intellect. Re- 
pentance changes the will. 

True, repentance is a change of mind, but 
it does not follow that it comes before faith. Re- 
pentance is a change of the will. Whenever a 
sinner surrenders his stubborn will to the will 
of God, he has repented. Sorrow for sin is not 
repentance, for that worketh repentance. Ref- 
ormation of life is not repentance, for that 
leads to the fruits of repentance. In the plan 
of salvation repentance is brought about by the 
preaching of the word of God. The people of 
Nineveh believed the preaching of Jonah, and 
repented. They first believed— a change of in- 
tellect, then repented — a change of will. 



152 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

^Without faith it is impossible to please 
God" (Heb. II : 6). 

'Tor whatsoever Is not of faith is sin" 
(Rom. 14: 23). 

It is impossible for the sinner to repent 
before he has believed and is sorry for his 
sins. The surrender of the will to Christ comes 
after we believe upon him. 

There is much unnecessary wrangling over 
faith and repentance, one school contending that 
faith comes first, the other contending that re- 
pentance should come before faith. They are 
very closely related. In conversion you can not 
separate them. If John Jones would enter this 
house right now, Jones and John would be close 
together. When a man believes with all his 
heart, he Is ready to surrender his will to God. 
Faith changes a man's way of thinking, repent- 
ance changes his will, and baptism changes his 
state, and all these steps change his relation to 
God. The man Is no longer a sinner, but a 
Christian. He Is then ready for another step, 
that of service. He must now work out his 
eternal salvation, the last step In his Christian 
warfare. 



XII. 
THE DANGERS OF REVIVALISM 

Some people think we are inconsistent when 
we commend the union revivals of Chapman, 
Munhall and others, but condemn our evangel- 
ists for doing the same things in the same way. 
The criticism is not well taken. When these 
union evangelists abandon the mourners' bench, 
drop frenzied emotionalism and invite sinners 
calmly to confess Christ in some way, though 
it may be only signing a card, they are coming 
toward New Testament evangelism; but when 
our evangelists level down to the same plane, 
they are going away from New Testament 
evangelism. One is coming, the other is going; 
one is going toward the Royal Highway, but 
has not yet arrived; the other has been on the 
way, but is departing from it. They may 
meet in the lane, but one is coming, the other 
is going. 

Again, we as a people owe something to New 
Testament evangelism that no other people 
owe. Our evangelists have a message for the 
people that no other evangelists have. We owe 
a debt to the people that can only be paid by 

153 



154 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

preaching the truth as Peter, Paul and Philip 
preached it. 

Over one hundred years ago there was a 
wild, hysterical revivalism started in the South. 
Thirty thousand people attended one of these 
frenzied revivals in Georgia. Slowly this fa- 
naticism moved north and culminated at Cane 
Ridge, Ky. Men swooned, women went into 
trances, and some went insane. Under this 
semi-hypnotic influence hundreds were stricken 
down and became unconscious. This excitement 
entered every town and village. To preach that 
these manifestations were not the works of the 
Spirit, was to be called infidels and scoffers. 
When a boy would fall over, agonize and awake 
to shout, the minister proclaimed him soundly 
converted. Any one who would say that he was 
not converted, would be charged with fighting 
against God. 

Thoughtful men would stand by and see 
their wives go into trances, their children into 
frenzy, and yet they dare not protest. 

The outdoor revivals and camp-meetings 
swept the whole land like autumnal fires. Feel- 
ing was the only test of conversion. This ex- 
citing animalism produced much scandal. In 
their excitement, men, women and children 
would be piled together, groaning, mourning 
and weeping. I have seen five or six women 
and men, partially unconscious, piled up together. 



THE DANGERS OF REVIVALISM 1S5 

Out of this looseness and gross familiarity came 
Mormonism and Spiritualism. The convert 
had received the Spirit to guide him, and Joe 
Smith did the same thing. In the trance state, 
men and women saw their departed mothers 
and sisters, and so did Spiritualists. 

Two things destroyed this form of revival- 
ism. Men began to explain this psychic force, 
and to show that these manifestations were 
nothing but hysteria. A few great men began to 
preach a rational salvation. They denied that 
these manifestations were conversions. Then 
the day of debate came, and the country owes 
more to our preachers than to all the other 
preachers of the land. We sent forth our 
Campbell, J. T. Johnson, B. W. Stone, John 
Smith, Henry R. Pritchard, Ben Franklin and 
John Sweeney. After a battle of one hundred 
years — the hundred years' war against fanati- 
cism — we won the victory. This frenzied re- 
vivalism is now found only among the negroes 
of the South, the Holy Rollers, and a few ig- 
norant religionists. 

To-day we face another form of revivalism 
that is perhaps more to be feared than the 
emotional revival. 

It does not come to us with tears, weeping 
and mourning, but it comes with the clapping of 
hands, laughing and hurrahs that border upon 
irreverence. 



156 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

There is no praying for the forgiveness of 
sins, but a boast that they hit the sawdust trail. 

The seekers do not come in a contrite spirit 
and humbly ask admission among God's peo- 
ple, but they sign a card and proclaim them- 
selves Christians. To deny that these people 
are converted is only to be ridiculed. But is 
there one preacher among us, out of the eight 
thousand, that believes that a man is converted, 
in the New Testament sense, when he merely 
comes forward to sign a card? If there is one, 
let him speak. And yet, in our papers, and 
from pulpit, we proclaim the falsehood merely 
to be popular, or to be in keeping with the 
conditions around us. We accept falsehood 
without protest, I have attended four union 
meetings this year, and all made me sad. To 
see the lack of reverence, order or seriousness 
is painful. I have heard men boast about hit- 
ting the trail in a manner that bordered upon 
blasphemy. In telling how he was induced to 
come forward, I heard a man use profanity in 
giving his experience. Many said to me that 
they had no notion of uniting with the church. 
Some ridiculed the church. 

Twenty-six thousand converts were reported 
in a Pittsburgh meeting. Does any man, for 
one minute, believe there were twenty-six thou- 
sand people converted in a New Testament 
sense? 



THE DANGERS OF REVIVALISM 157 

I have had conversations with men who as- 
sisted in the meetings, and others have written 
me concerning these union efforts. After a care- 
ful examination of the twenty-six thousand 
cards, it was found that sixteen thousand were 
signed by some of the most pious and godly 
people in the city — members of the churches. 
They signed cards merely to consecrate them- 
selves to the work of that meeting. Out of the 
ten thousand left, one-half of them have not 
been induced to take any stand for any church. 
Many declare they don't want to belong to any 
church. They actually oppose the church. No 
man is a convert until he is in the body of 
Christ — the church. Therefore the so-called 
twenty-six thousand converts are reduced to zero. 
Coming forward, giving the preacher his hand 
and signing a card, makes no one a convert. To 
be in Christ Is to be in his body — the church — 
and no man Is a Christian that Is not In the 
church. 

When our evangelists report a meeting with 
three thousand conversions, they know the re- 
port Is false. What about the people who came 
by letter, statement, and from other religious 
societies, many of them Immersed members of 
the church? Just a short time ago, a meeting 
was reported with nearly two thousand converts. 
One preacher tells me that there were only 
about three hundred baptisms; therefore only 



158 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

three hundred conversions. Dr. Chapman puts 
it well when he says, **I count converts when 
they are in some church." 

In our lust for numbers, have we forgotten 
the truth ? Some tell us that much good is done 
in these revivals. Grant it. Much good was 
done in the frenzied emotionalism, but let the 
historian relate the after-results. They tell us 
that in the wake of that hysterical revival wave 
came stagnation, skepticism and immorality. 
Men cooled off from their frenzy and laughed 
at the Bible and ridiculed religion. They real- 
ized that their so-called conversion was a farce, 
and went into infidelity. 

Shall we permit, without protest, this hilari- 
ous revivalism to become the only popular evan- 
gelism? If we do, it may take another hundred 
years for us to get the people back to a Scrip- 
tural evangelism. If we are too timid to pro- 
claim the message, God may have to call up 
some other people to do it. 

When the union meetings come we want to 
go into them and do our best. After they are 
over we must teach these men and women lov- 
ingly, and yet clearly and firmly, that they have 
only taken one step in conversion; that they 
must obey the commands in order to get into 
Christ. 

In one city where I attended the end of a 
revival, many men were meeting in the halls and 



THE DANGERS OF REVIVALISM 159 

theaters, ridiculing the church and declaring that 
they have no use for the old shell — the church. 

Paul was playing havoc with the church 
when Jesus met him and said, 'Why do do you 
persecute me?" Paul realized then, and for- 
ever after, that to persecute the church is to 
persecute Christ, to ridicule the church is to 
ridicule Jesus, and to be out of the church was 
to be out of Christ. 

I have no sympathy with that sentiment that 
applauds the name of Jesus, but hisses the 
church. Let our evangelists, with no apology, 
teach forcibly that to be out of the church is to 
be out of Christ, and that there is not a Chris- 
tian on earth that is out of the church universal. 

I know not what course others may take, 
but, as for me, I must preach the gospel that 
was delivered to us by Jesus and his apostles. 
I would be unfaithful to my Lord if I would 
recognize men as converts when I knew they 
were not. It is a great blunder to give a wrong 
prescription that might kill a man, or to give 
wrong directions to a lost man, who might fol- 
low your advice and go to death, but it Is a 
tragedy to give a man wrong advice in seeking 
his way home to heaven. 

Here I stand. God helping me, I stand. 



XIII. 

THE LAST SALUTE ON EVANGELISM 

As I fired the first gun in the symposium, I 
now desire to close the discussion in peace. 

1. It is unfortunate that some words have 
been used with two meanings. Some have used 
**big meetings," in the sense of meetings big in 
excitement, frenzy and big in counting numbers 
without due regard to accuracy. Others use it 
referring to large ingatherings. There should be 
no strife here. We all believe in great ingather- 
ings. No meeting is big enough as long as one 
man is out of Christ. If I could have a meet- 
ing with one thousand baptisms, I would rejoice. 
If I could reproduce Pentecost in preaching, 
numbers and results, I would be delighted. "In- 
sane evangelism" is another phrase that we 
should be done with forever. It is meaningless. 
*'The first day of invitation" can be dispensed 
with. 

2. Some think it unwise for evangelists to 
criticize evangelistic methods. They say, *'Let 
others make the attack." That may do for 
stand-pat politics, but it is not sound for the 
men demanding reform. The man that does 

160 



LAST SALUTE ON EVANGELISM 161 

not clean up his own party is unworthy of the 
confidence of the people. We are also informed 
that we can do little to correct abuses. I can 
remember the time when our evangelism was 
abuse, ridicule and antagonism. Illustrations 
were coarse, repellant and uncouth. This stock 
of evangelism is no longer in trade, and evan- 
gelists ridiculed it out of existence. 

3. This combative type was followed by an 
evangelism which is not surpassed to-day. W. 
F. Black, without any help, went forth to tell 
the story in cultured oratory. J. Z. Taylor, T. 
,A. Boyer, and others, continued this same plan. 
They in a single meeting, single-handed, brought 
two hundred, three hundred and four hundred 
to Christ. They depended entirely on the 
preaching of the Word. They had no assist- 
ants. Some of our strong churches owe their 
eminence to these evangelists. In many cases 
this type of evangelism should be restored. 
More preaching, less machinery; more message, 
less method. 

4. It Is gratifying to notice changes in re- 
ports lately. The numbers that came by letter 
and confession are reported. If the evangelists 
will telegraph the numbers who came by letter 
and confession on the great day, and at the 
end of the meeting tell how many were taken 
into the local congregation by letter, statement 

and baptism, we will avoid many false reports. 
11 



162 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

If some of the reports had stated the number 
that came by letter and baptism, the reported 
number of additions would have been divided 
by four. 

5. It is important to notice that the facts 
presented by Allen Wilson and myself have 
never been questioned. Those statements were 
not rumor, hearsay or flying reports. They 
were the testimony of the best witnesses possible 
— preachers, elders and deacons. They who 
testified were eye-witnesses. In one instance 
there were twenty people who expressed an 
anxious willingness to verify the accuracy of the 
report. I am sure in one report we could have 
gotten one hundred witnesses to sustain every 
word. We showed that In many of these high- 
pressure meetings false reports have been made, 
deception has been practiced, cogregatlons had 
been injured and stagnation had followed. 

6. The proposition we started out to prove 
was, *'There Is something wrong with our pres- 
ent evangelism." This we have sustained with 
many Infallible proofs. Forty-six persons have 
testified In signed articles or In fragments of 
articles. Forty-four of the forty-six affirmed the 
proposition and declare that the symposium was 
necessary and will do good. 

The meeting Is not evil because It is large; 
it is evil when It does wrong. The evangelist 
does no wrong when he counts one thousand 



LAST SALUTE ON EVANGELISM 163 

converts; he does wrong when he counts one 
thousand that are not converts. He is not wrong 
when he tells the truth; he is wrong when he 
makes false reports. He is not wrong when he 
telegraphs facts ; but he does evil when his tele- 
grams deceive. The evangelist does no evil in 
having his methods of work; he does wrong 
when he substitutes frenzy for truth. He does 
no wrong when he does personal work in shop 
or on street; he does wrong when he and his 
workers stop little schoolgirls on their way 
home, and engage in such conversation as this: 
**Don't you believe Jesus is your Saviour?" 
"Yes, sir." 'What is your name?" ''Martha 
Chase," and reports Martha Chase, and scores 
of others like her, as converts. He does no 
evil when he preaches in such a manner that 
many come to the Master in one day; he does 
wrong when he gathers names for six or eight 
days, and then announces them as first-day in- 
vitation converts, when scores of them had never 
been in church, have not been there since, and 
had no notion of becoming Christians. One 
evangelist told me that the company had 
gathered over one hundred names on street and 
in private homes several days before the first 
day of invitation, and announced all as converts 
on the first day of invitation. 

He does no evil who leads young people, 
boys and girls to Jesus. He does much evil 



164 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

when he goes to Primary departments and asks 
all who love Jesus to stand, and counts them 
as converts. My singer said to me one day, 
**We can count two hundred next Sunday if we 
desire.'' I am sure that we could have easily 
had one hundred or more to stand up and say, 
**I love Jesus." We had four hundred in a 
children's rally. By coaxing and coaching, I 
could have had nearly all to say, ''I believe 
Jesus is my Saviour." I could have gone to the 
Y. M. C. A. mass-meeting and stampeded the 
crowd, and had one hundred to stand up for 
Christ. It is easy to have a big day and count 
members. Any man with a little psychic knowl- 
edge can do it. It is not right to say: "Oh, 
come now. Think of Jesus. Let baptism and 
the church which you join be secondary. Take 
care of that some other time," That method 
may do for the Holy Roller, but not for the man 
who is trying to restore New Testament evan- 
^gelism. All this trouble is not confined to our 
own ranks. Biederwolf, Chapman and Taylor 
see the danger. In the National Evangelistic 
Congress at Chicago, where hundreds of the 
greatest evangelists gathered, it was announced 
that our evangelism tends towards commercial- 
ism and exaggeration. 

The Federation Council sounded a warning. 
Dr. Taylor said: 'When I decided to enter the 
field, an evangelist said to me, 'Come and see 



LAST SALUTE ON EVANGELISM 165 

me; I can give you some of the tricks; I have 
them all skinned a mile in raising money !^" 
Dr. Taylor said he felt like leaving the field 
then. Dr. Chapman said: ''The criticism upon 
some of our present-day evangelism is just. If 
evangelism is to be maintained, we must 
abandon some of our methods. Tell the truth." 

Methods that deceive children, bewilder 
those who are trying to seek the truth, and leave 
thousands convicted but not converted, should 
give way to apostolic preaching that transforms 
men from sin. It is a serious matter to lead 
men to Christ. It is unpardonable to teach 
them that they are converted when they are 
not. The number reported in a meeting and 
the number received by baptism and statement 
should be about the same. 

A prominent business man said that evan- 
gelists generally were too Impulsive to be good 
business men. It seems to me that in this dis- 
cussion much has been said that has no bearing 
on the question. Festus admonishing a pris- 
oner standing before the king is given as an 
example of opposition to evangelism. It is as 
logical as to affirm that the Mississippi Is the 
longest river In the world, therefore England 
should adopt a republican form of government. 
It Is as sensible as the conundrum, *'Why Is a 
mouse when It spins?" Neither do resolutions 
In favor of an evangelist who does right justify 



166 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

one that does wrong. No criticism is made of 
the honest evangelist, no one needs to come to 
his defense. Nine-tenths of our evangelism is 
above criticism, but the one-tenth may poison all. 

Some insist that we should point out the 
evangelist, place and time where these things 
occur. I would think that a calamity. This 
mad lust for notoriety is found in ministers, 
dedicators, and Sunday-school workers. Shall 
we personate all these if we discuss abuses? But 
I will say this: If demanded, we can point out 
several cases, and have the consent of ministers, 
laymen and workers. The place, the time and 
the man can be given. But I see nothing but 
pain and sorrow to come from such a procedure. 
I do not think there will be any reason to adopt 
this plan. If we have done evil, let us now do 
right. Remember, our work is to restore New 
Testament evangelism. We must not, for fame 
or money, go off after other gods. 

We are intensely evangelistic. We need 
fifty evangelists where now we have one. The 
church that is not evangelistic is not evangelical. 
Every church needs the trained evangelists. The 
sixty-five million unconverted in the United 
States are calling for the evangelist. The dying 
churches are calling for the evangelist. Min- 
isters who have carried the burden are calling 
for the evangelist. Mothers and fathers with 
wayward boys are calling for the evangelist. 



LAST SALUTE ON EVANGELISM 167 

The church is doomed that abandons evangel- 
ism. 

I have seen some conventions go wild with 
enthusiasm when some young man volunteers to 
go to the Congo, where a home is prepared for 
him. That requires heroism. But it requires 
just as much heroism for the evangelist un- 
heralded to leave his wife and little ones in 
loneliness. Black, Updike, Gilbert, Taylor, Pat- 
terson and Northcutt have gone to be with God. 
Others, worn out in the service of the Master, 
are only waiting till the shadows are a little 
longer grown. Only a few of us are left who 
devote our entire time to evangelism. In a few 
summers we must go; our time shall come and 
we shall be called to go and join the innumer- 
able caravan. 

"The sad muffled drum shall sound the last march of the 

brave, 
And the soldier shall retreat to his quarters, the grave; 
Then, freed from death's terrors and hostile alarms, 
When we hear the last bugle, we'll stand to our arms." 



XIV. 
TROUBLES, REAL AND IMAGINARY 

(A Lecture to Women) 

I do not allot to myself a privilege that I 
do not allot to you. If I have a right to de- 
fend my property by my vote, you should have 
a right to protect your property by your vote. 

I presume some will say, ''Why lecture to 
women only?" Do you know that men are 
curious? I gave my lecture to men, thinking I 
might get some of them to come out through 
curiosity. I never dreamed that you would 
come through curiosity. A woman is not made 
that way. But as I gave men a meeting, it is 
but fair that you have one. 

Do you know that three of the best sermons 
Jesus ever preached were preached to women 
only? Jesus was on his way when he stopped 
at Jacob's well, near the city of Sychar. A 
Samaritan woman came to the well; Jesus en-i 
tered into conversation with her. This startled 
the woman. She said: ''How Is it that you, 
being a Jew, ask drink of me? Our fathers 
worshiped in this mountain, and you worship 
in Jerusalem." Jesus replied: "The time has 

168 



TROUBLES, REAL AND IMAGINARY 169 

come when the true worshippers will worship the 
Father In spirit and in truth." He taught her 
that God could be worshiped anywhere, not in 
Mount Gerizim, the representative of devotion, 
or Jerusalem, the representative of truth; that 
the time had come when God could be worshiped 
everywhere. She went back into the city and 
began to tell the story of love. The beautiful 
story is recorded in the tenth chapter of John. 

Jesus needed rest. With his disciples he 
went to the coast of Sidon to get away from 
the multitudes, but in the secluded country he 
found a woman of great faith. The brightest 
jewels are often found in the darkest places. 
At the headlands of the fields where the horses 
turn and trample the stalks, the farmers do not 
expect to find the best corn, but the best grows 
in the middle of the fields. But here in the 
pagan country, an untaught community, Jesus 
discovered one of the richest jewels. Jesus has 
children everywhere. Here he found an ear 
of corn that surpassed the corn in Jerusalem. 

There was no rest for Jesus. A Canaanitish 
woman cried: ^^Have mercy on me, O Lord, 
thou son of David. My daughter is grievously 
vexed with a devil" (Matt. 15:22). He an- 
swered her not a word. That seems to be cruel. 
What would you do if you would ask your min- 
ister a question and he would not answer you? 
I fear you would get mad and leave the church. 



170 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

But this woman had too much faith to be silly. 
She wanted a blessing and was not going to be 
defeated. Faith pleads earnestly. The disciples 
were cruel to her. They said: ''Send her away. 
She crieth after us." 

If you were to come here to-night and the 
ushers would say, ''Send these people away; they 
annoy us/' would you not leave at once in a 
fuss? Not so with this woman. She wanted a 
blessing, and the unkind treatment did not check 
her pleading. Jesus said, "I am not sent but 
unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." 
That did not smother her enthusiasm. She 
cried, "Lord, help me." He replied, "It is not 
meet to take the children's bread and cast it to 
the dogs." Jesus called her a dog. What 
would you do if your preacher would talk that 
way to you? She did not deny the truth of the 
statement. She confessed she was entirely un- 
worthy, and said, "Truth, Lord, but the dogs 
eat the crumbs that fall from the master's 
table." She plead; she did not dispute or deny. 
She admitted all Jesus said, but defended her 
claim by saying that the little dogs eat the 
crumbs that fall from the master's table. "I 
only ask for the dog's crumbs. I do not ask 
to take the bread away from the children. In 
your great storehouse of love and power, drop 
me a crumb of blessing. You will not lessen 
your power and the children will not miss it." 



TROUBLES, REAL AND IMAGINARY 171 

Her faith was great and could not be silenced 
on account of the silence of Jesus, the conduct 
of the disciples or the arguments of the Master. 
When Jesus saw the beauty of her faith, he 
said, *'0 woman, great is thy faith; be it unto 
thee as thou wilt,'' and her daughter was healed 
that hour. Jesus was merely testing her faith. 
When he saw the beauty of it, he granted her 
request. 

His next great sermon was to Mary and 
Martha (Luke 10:40-42). He had been east 
of the Jordan; I think he came to Bethany un- 
expectedly. I think Martha ran away so she 
would not be seen. She did not have all things 
in proper trim. But not so with Mary. For 
the time she forgot her cares and sat at the feet 
of Jesus. Oh, how she enjoyed the communion 
with Jesus. She drank in his words and felt the 
thrill of his spirit. But Martha came and said, 
*'Bid my sister help me." Notice, Jesus does 
not rebuke Martha. She was a model house- 
wife, a beautiful character; but he says, *'You 
are troubled about many things, and but one 
thing Is needful, and Mary has chosen the good 
part that shall not be taken away from her." 
The good part Mary had chosen was to sit at 
the feet of Jesus. The first thing for every one 
to do is to sit at the feet of Jesus. After that, 
look after your worldly affairs. Seek first the 
kingdom of heaven, then give attention to your 



172 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

home and business. Here is an example for my 
subject: Martha worrying over imaginary trou- 
bles; Mary contented at the feet of Jesus. 

With some women everything goes wrong. 
If it is raining, they are sure it will never cease. 
If it is bright, they know it will be cloudy the next 
day. When it is dry they pray for rain; and 
when it is raining they want it dry. The dis- 
contented woman is like the old lady who said, 
''I always feel bad when I am well, for I know 
I will feel bad the next day." If she has a pim- 
ple on her cheek, she is sure it is a cancer, and 
when she has a cough she is sure it is the first 
stages of consumption. She whines because she 
IS sick and whines enough to make everybody 
else sick. I had an old aunt that was always 
complaining. One day myself, three sisters and 
brother got on our old horse Baldface and went 
over to see her. She consented for us to go to 
the woods. Five cousins joined us and all of 
us could not get on the horse, so we tied him to 
the post behind the barn and went to the woods 
on foot. We had not been gone one hour until 
we heard the old dinner-horn. In the middle 
of the day it meant danger. We started to the 
house. Her husband heard the horn and ran to 
the house, and as he entered he heard our aunt 
praying, '*0 Lord, hold old Baldface." He 
thought she had gone crazy, and didn't miss it 
much. On asking what was the alarm, she said, 



TROUBLES, REAL AND IMAGINARY 173 

**About SIX months ago I had a presentiment 
that old Baldface would run off and kill all the 
children, and I know all are dead and I am 
guilty/' He replied, ''Get up; old Baldface is 
tied to the post." The Lord could not hold old 
Baldface when he was already held. 

Some women are never satisfied. If the 
husband comes home late, she quarrels about it; 
if he comes home early, she has just that much 
more time to quarrel. Just as they lay down 
for the night's rest, the wife began to quarrel, 
but the husband went to sleep. He woke the 
next morning and she began again. He said to 
her, ''Say, dear, is this a new quarrel or the 
one you started yesterday?" Do not misunder- 
stand me; I believe that four-fifths of the 
divided homes, divorces and separations origi- 
nated from men, but do not let your case be one 
out of the five. 

A wife said to her friend: "I see that my 
husband and I are losing our love and attach- 
ment for one another. Maybe I am to blame; 
I will change." The next night she dressed in 
clean apparel, met him at the gate, gave him the 
old-time kiss, and invited him to sit down in 
the arbor. She entered into conversation upon 
his business, and showed she was Interested in 
his affairs. Then they talked about the old 
times when they walked at the dusk of the 
evening under the whispering pines. After sup- 



174 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

per she said, **Now, do you have to go back to 
the store to-night?'' *'Oh, no; the boys can care 
for the store, I think. I will remain here with 
you. 

Make your home the best, brightest and 
happiest place on earth. ''There is no place like 
home.'' Many husbands remain out late at 
night, and as they go home they sing, ''No place 
like home" — no place they dread to enter like 
home. 

A man came home only to hear the old 
scold. He went to bed, but sleep had left his 
pillow. He thought his wife was sound asleep. 
He went to a trunk, took out a photograph, 
looked at it tenderly, kissed It affectionately and 
went to bed. She arose, secured the photo- 
graph, tore off the WTapping, and when she ex- 
amined it she found it was her own photograph 
— the one she gave him when she w^as cheerful, 
kind and sympathetic. At once she realized the 
trouble and set about to correct it. No man can 
love a scold, or one who takes no interest in 
her home or her husband's affairs. 

The woman who spends her life in the whirl 
of society is never happy. Dissipation aggra- 
vates her whole life. She lives the unreal. It 
sours life, makes her irritable, blue and cross. 
She lives for self alone. If not in the giddy 
ball, she is In bed. It Is only another step from 
the ballroom to bed. The Idle woman Is gen- 



TROUBLES, REAL AND IMAGINARY 175 

erally sick and most of her ailments are imagi- 
nary. She goes from the flattery of the dress- 
fitter to the consolation of the doctor, who gets a 
good fee for his condolence. 

There is something better for you. Be a 
heroine, but a worker; be a woman, not a mere 
pleasure-seeker. The woman of pleasure-seek- 
ing is a miserable failure. 

Nothing on earth is more powerful than a 
mother's love. It stretches beyond the stars to 
breathless eternity. The boy will never forget 
the songs and prayers of mother. 

George Washington would not He. Where 
did he learn that beautiful lesson? In a little 
book found In his old home where was a chap- 
ter on truth-telling. In the margin of the book 
were found sentences like these: ^'Do not forget 
that, George;" ''Remember this, my boy." 
Who wrote these words? It was the mother of 
Washington; so, when you praise Washington 
for his whole life, go back behind the throne 
and you will find the Influence of his mother. 

What Is It that characterizes Byron? His 
utter distrust of motherhood. He could shoot 
off his brilliant thoughts and dazzle the world, 
but had no respect for women. Why? When 
he was only nine years old, his mother was 
unfaithful. He judged all womankind by his 
mother. 

Two men were gambling In China. The 



176 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

loser pushed back from the table after he was 
bankrupt and began to sing: 

"One sweetly solemn thought 
Comes to me o'er and o'er: 
I am nearer my home to-day 
Than I have ever been before/' 

The winner said, * Where did you learn that 
song?" ''Mother taught it to me.'' ''Mother! 
mother!" cried the winner; "don't say mother 
In this vile place. I can't take your money when 
you talk about your mother. Here, take your 
part of the money and let us go back to America 
and be men." The influence of mother changed 
their lives. 

Every woman should be a Christian. All 
she has she owes to Jesus. When Jesus came to 
this world woman was the toy of man. To-day 
she stands out above him. She owes it to the 
teachings of Jesus. You may be a good wife 
or mother without being a Christian, but you 
can be a better wife, mother or daughter by 
being a Christian. Jesus will help you carry 
your burdens. Take him as your Friend, Lord 
and Master. 



XV. 
LECTURE TO MEN 

"Run ye through the streets of Jerusalem 
and see If ye can find a man" (Jer. 5:1). The 
prophet seemed to convey the idea that in the 
great city of Jerusalem it was difficult to find a 
man, a being that would measure up on all sides 
a manly man. What was then scarce is not now 
plentiful. What was true of Jerusalem was also 
largely true of Palestine. Babylon was Chaldea, 
Jerusalem was Palestine, Athens was Greece, 
Rome was Italy, Paris is France, London is 
England and New York is America. The stand- 
ard of morals in the cities will shape the stand- 
ard in the whole land. Were it not for the 
pure blood from the country poured into our 
cities every month, they would rot in fifty years. 
If the city young men do not give us better gov- 
ernment, it is high time that our country boys 
rise up and take control. 

Diogenes went into the streets of Athens in 
midday with a lighted lantern. When asked 
what he was doing he replied, "Hunting for a 
man." Standing on a street corner, he once 
called, "Ye men of Athens." When many ran 

12 177 



178 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

around him he shouted, "Away! I did not call 
for pigmies, I called for men." 

I shall not attempt to define man. I might 
blunder, like Plato when he said, "Man is a 
two-legged animal without feathers.'' Diogenes 
pulled the feathers off a rooster, and tossed it 
into the Academy, saying, "There is one of 
Plato's men." 

I am not here to tickle your fancy or to say 
vulgar things. I am here to call you to noble 
lives. Men, you will largely shape the social 
life of this community. What you are, society 
will be — you make society. 

Let me state briefly what constitutes a man. 

I. This being, in order to be called a man, 
must have a tender conscience. Notice, I put the 
emphasis on "tender." All have consciences, 
but some have consciences that are dead, and 
they have forgotten to bury them. Some men 
do the meanest of mean things and they say they 
do It in all good conscience. I presume they do, 
for they have no scruples. In olden times they 
wore sandles. If a pebble should slip between 
the foot and shoe, it would make most men 
limp. But here is a fellow whose foot is cal- 
loused. He can have a dozen pebbles in his 
shoe, and not limp. So some have calloused 
consciences. Do you remember the first time 
you did some mean thing? Did you not feel the 
cold perspiration gather on your brow? Were 



LECTURE TO MEN 179 

you not restless all night? Did you not feel 
that a thousand eyes were watching you, a thou- 
sand ears ready to catch every whisper, and 
everything seem to start a blaze of discovery? 
Your beating heart, rising in your throat, de- 
manded disclosure. You thought every person 
saw your crime in your face, read it in your 
eyes, and could almost hear It in your silent 
thoughts. 

To-day you do the same mean act, and all 
you care for is, **Will I escape the law?" You 
slapped your conscience in the face and told it 
to keep its mouth shut. The second time it rose 
up to rebuke you, you stabbed it; the last time 
you murdered it. Now you can do the meanest 
of mean things and it hurts you not. Men, keep 
a tender conscience. 

2. This being, in order to be worthy the 
title *^man," must possess a warm, loving heart. 
Some deem it weakness to cry. Tears represent 
manhood. Plato says, ''Tears are man's best 
title to humanity." The race that can not cry 
will die. The great Washington wept with pity 
when he saw the suffering of his men. Lincoln 
cried like a child when little DoUie begged him 
not to shoot her soldier brother. Jesus wept. 
When does Garfield stand out before you as 
the grandest of men? Was it when he made 
that wonderful speech in Congress? or was it 
when he led his soldiers to victory? Was it 



180 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

when he stood yonder in Chicago making that 
matchless address nominating Mr. Sherman? 
Or was it when he was nominated amid a blaze 
of joy? Was it when at Mentor a carload of 
telegrams congratulated him upon his election? 
Would you say it was on his way to the capital, 
when thousands rushed down to the station, 
amid the roar of the cannon, the fluttering of 
flags and peals of bells as he triumphantly en- 
tered the city, hailed and blessed by sixty mil- 
lions ? Was it when he made that eventful speech 
on the day of inauguration? Not there. But it 
was when he closed that speech, and, turning 
away from Presidents and Senators, stooped and 
kissed his old mother. From that day until 
yonder by the seaside, as the breezes moaned 
above him as he cried, *'Oh, Swaim!" everybody 
said Garfield was a man. I was standing on the 
platform in a Western city watching the ap- 
proaching train. I saw a young man anxiously 
walking up and down the track. When the train 
came In he ran from coach to coach. Who Is 
he looking for? His wife, sweetheart or sister? 
Suddenly an old, crippled woman came to the 
door. I saw the young man rush up, affection- 
ately kiss her, and say, ^^Grandma, I am glad 
to see you." I pronounce him a man. A hotel 
was burning In Philadelphia. A widowed 
mother had a darling boy In the third story. 
When the alarm was given, the mother started 



LECTURE TO MEN 181 

for her boy. The police said, ''Stand back; no 
one can go through the flames." Like a giant 
she pushes them aside. She bounds up the stairs, 
wraps the boy in the bedding and brings him 
into the open air. He is not touched. Not so 
with the poor mother. Her hair was gone, 
fingers crisped and face blistered. She was 
never able to take her place again as waiten 
She moved to Denver. Fifteen years after, at a 
swell ball, this boy was whirling in the dance, 
when the mother came to ask him to come home. 
The fire was out and the night was growing cold. 
Instead of meeting her, he stepped into the side 
room; an attendant told her that her son was 
not there. While she sat there weeping he dis- 
owned her, and finally joined with others in 
jesting about her ugly old face. That fellow 
was not a man. 

3. This being must have opinions of his 
own. A man will think and act for himself. In 
politics and religion he will follow the right. 

4. Last, but not least, this being, in order to 
be called a man, must have a religion. Man is 
a religious being. You trace this spark of 
divinity in the barbarian as he beats his tum-tum 
drum, and in the Indian around his wigwam 
fires. Do not strangle this divinity within you. 
God has given you three natures : Physical, in- 
tellectual and spiritual. You have no right to 
take your life. God gave it to you for a noble 



182 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

purpose. Neither have you any right to neglect 
your intellect. 

But God has left an immortal soul in your 
keeping. Men, answer me, will you care for 
your soul? If you knew that in ten days you 
would commit suicide, or that your mind would 
be dethroned, miserable would you be. But you 
do know that you must die and your soul must 
be saved or lost. Will you care for your soul? 

To young men: While standing on the shore 
in Boston I saw all the ships coming into port. 
I asked the reason, when an old sea captain 
said: ''Storm signal is up. No wise captain will 
put out on the dangerous sea." All along the 
shores of life there are storm-signals warning 
young men not to put off into dangerous seas. 
There is a placard saying, ^^Don't touchF' Let 
me call your attention to a few of these 
placards: 

I. Don't swear. 

You tell me that great men swear. But 
their profanity is no part of their greatness, but 
IS a moral deformity. I sat on the platform by 
the side of a man who had held listening senates 
in rapt admiration, who had led his conquering 
army over fields of victory, and planted the im- 
press of his genius on the ages ; yet he had only 
one foot. No one would say, "What a splendid 
man; let me cut off one of my feet." No, that 
was no part of his greatness. It is unmanly to 



LECTURE TO MEN 183 

swear. What would you say should I take the 
name of your sister more often than Is neces- 
sary, or toss about the name of your father for 
foul-mouth purposes, or whet the edge of my 
anger with the name of your mother? You 
would tell me I was not a gentleman. The 
Christian's heavenly Father is dearer to him 
than your earthly father is to you. But you say, 
*'I don't mean any harm when I swear." Then, 
you admit your heart is so profane that pro- 
fanity comes out without your consent. 

2. Don't live beyond your income. 

We talk much about hard times. I have 
felt the sharp teeth of hard times. But what 
causes hard times? The chief cause is extrav- 
agance. We spend three dollars for whisky to 
one for bread. More money for tobacco than 
for meat, and ten dollars for finger-rings to one 
for Foreign Missions. Many young men spend 
more money in extravagance in one year than 
their fathers spent in twenty years. A young 
man in Kansas City, working on a salary of $40 
per month, spent $24 for board, $20 for livery 
hire, $20 for theater tickets, $25 for tobacco 
and whisky — double his salary. He was dis- 
missed with the remark from the head man of 
the firm, ''The young man who will live beyond 
his Income will finally steal.'* 

3. Don't drink. 

Stronger men than you have gone down. 



184 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

Don't think you can take an occasional glass, 
and then a semi-occasional. You will become a 
drunkard. 

I stood in college on Commencement Day. 
A young man stepped to the front of the stage 
to deliver his graduating speech. Showers of 
bouquets fell thickly around him. Every one 
said, *^What an excellent young man!" I see 
him standing on the platform waiting for the 
approaching train, to carry him to his village 
home. There he meets the belle of the town 
and she is led to the marriage altar. Of even- 
ings when he came home from his office she 
would cheer him with the sweet strains of music. 
Nineteen months from the wedding-day I see 
that wife, poorly clad, coming down the streets. 
I see her knock on a saloon and ask for her 
husband. I see her lead him from the saloon 
to her garret, where he falls unconscious upon 
the floor. He dreams of the time when he stood 
at the head of his class in college. She, with 
face covered in her hands, thinks. She thinks 
when she was at the head of a happy home. 
Now he springs to his feet, gives one yell, and 
his spirit takes its flight to the judgment-seat of 
God. Shame upon a people who with one hand 
build churches, and in the name of the living 
God invite sinners to repentance, while, with the 
other hand, they build jails, and then open up 
the saloon to fill the jails. Why do you have 



LECTURE TO MEN 185 

saloons here? Revenue, you say. I have been 
figuring some. The actual revenue that you re- 
ceive from your saloon is only 47^ cents per 
capita. The price of a 150-pound hog in Chicago 
IS $7.50, but the price of a man here is only 47 j^ 
cents. If money is all you are after, I would 
rather be a hog in Chicago than a man in this 
town. The saloon is a reservoir of sin, wicked- 
ness and crime, from which flow streams of 
ruin that make deep channels throughout the 
entire land. It demands of the young man his 
wealth, health and life. 

It says to the mother, *'I demand your 
son;" to the wife, "Give me your husband;" to 
the State, "Surrender your statesman;" to high 
heaven, "I demand an immortal soul." It is 
God's worst enemy and the devil's best friend. 

The United States spends more money for 
whisky than for bread, meat and education. 
Should any man do this, his family must suffer. 
The nation that spends more money for whisky 
than for bread, meat and education must expect 
hard times. Yet, who is responsible for this 
condition of affairs? We are. Last year five 
million church-members voted. They could 
have destroyed the saloon. The saloon lives 
by their votes. If the preachers would educate 
the people, then they would vote right. Hence 
the saloon lives by consent of the preachers. 

4. Don't violate the law of chastity. 



186 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

**Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he 
also reap." God has said It. He who goes 
to the house of the scarlet woman has put his 
foot in hell. Men, I call you back from such 
an awful sin. Continue in it, and the demons 
of hell will *'Ha! ha!" while you are agonizing 
in a horrible death. 

Remember, young man, that for every fallen 
woman there is at least one fallen man. Would 
you recognize a woman who is impure? Why, 
then, demand respect of woman? 

Here society is all wrong. If a woman of- 
fends against chastity, she goes down forever, 
but man may tear the fair-famed girl from her 
home, and cast her out to die, and yet walk the 
streets unrebuked. Let the woman demand the 
same exactness of manners from the man that 
he demands from her; virtue for virtue, good 
conduct for good conduct, and that act that will 
banish a poor woman from society, in the name 
of high heaven let it banish men from society. 

To Fathers : God has blessed you with chil- 
dren. He has endowed them with three natures 
— physical, intellectual and spiritual. You have 
no right to neglect that child. If you abuse its 
physical nature, society will take the child from 
you, and say you are a brute. If you neglect 
its intellect, the state says, ''I will educate it, 
even without your consent." But the child has 
a soul. You have no right to neglect Its spiritual 



LECTURE TO MEN 187 

nature. Neither can you train a child spiritually 
unless you are spiritual. You owe it to your 
children to be a Christian. 

To Husbands: You have taken from the 
home the flower of the family. Are you caring 
for that delicate flower? You say, *'I support 
her.'' This is not sufficient. You insist you 
never abuse her. That may be true. I stood 
on Clark Street in Chicago. I saw a woman 
hunting from corner to corner for her husband. 
She found him in a shooting-gallery. I saw her 
place her hand on him and say, '*Frank, come 
home, baby is dying." He turned upon her and 
struck her in the face. There she lay bleeding 
on the pavement. I said such a man ought to 
be hung. But, husband, there is one thing that 
a woman hates worse than a blow, and that Is 
cold, heartless neglect. Many young men are 
snapping the heartstrings of their mothers by 
wayward lives. 

Every night a husband came home, he would 
abuse his faithful wife. One night he came In 
under the influence of liquor and struck her a 
cruel blow, then went to his bed. The wife 
thought he was asleep. She arose from her bed, 
lighted a taper, slipped to the next room, un- 
locked a trunk, and began to read an old letter. 
All the time the husband was watching her. 
Like a savage beast, he sprang upon her, and 
tore the letter from her hands, rushed to the 



188 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

next room and began to read it. His name 
was Charles; hers, Llllie. They had been mar- 
ried twenty-one years. The letter read: ^^Dear 
Lillie: We have been married one year to-day. 
It's the happiest year of my life." Many en- 
dearing words, and the letter closed: *'Your 
husband, Charles." Twenty years ago that let- 
ter had been written. When abused and tossed 
about she would go read the letter, and meditate 
over the days of love. 

An English lord married an American girl, 
carried her to London, abandoned her and went 
to the Continent to squander her money in riot- 
ous living. God blessed them with one dear 
boy that she called **My Bonny Charley." Be- 
reaved of her husband, she took to drink. The 
boy was taken from her and taken to Australia, 
where he became a judge. The mother com- 
mitted a crime and was banished to Australia, 
where for years she hunted for her bonny 
Charley. She committed another crime and the 
jury pronounced the word '^Guilty J^ The judge 
prepared to pass sentence on her, but said, 
**Madam, have you anything to say?" Turning 
her blurred eyes up to his, she said: ''Your 
Honor, you see before you a poor, abandoned 
woman. I was not always thus. I was once as 
pure as your own mother. But my husband 
abandoned me in the great city of London, and 
I went down. I committed a crime to be 



LECTURE TO MEN 189 

banished to Australia, thinking I might find 
my bonny Charley. But I can't find him. Sir, 
should you ever see a boy whose mother called 
him 'Bonny Charley/ tell him I died loving 
him." The judge trembled, and said: ''Gentle- 
men of the jury, the lady may be guilty, but I 
can not sentence her, for she is my own dear 
mother," Men, be tender and affectionate hus- 
bands ! You owe your wife a debt of gratitude. 
You can pay that debt only at the feet of Jesus. 
Stand by her side as a Christian husband. You 
can not be a good husband without Christ. You 
owe it to yourself, to your wife and children, to 
your God, to make your home a Christian one. 
Accept Christ now, and the joy-bells of heaven 
will ring. 



XVI. 
CHRIST IN THE HOME— A LECTURE 

"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he 
is old he will not depart from it." — Prov. 22 : 6. 

In the fifth chapter of Deuteronomy, and in 
the twenty-ninth verse, the divine writer says: 
*'0h that there were such a heart in them, that 
they would fear me and keep all my command- 
ments always, that it might be well with them, 
and with their children for ever." 

Some of you have not kept the laws of 
Christ, and it does not go well with you or your 
children. Where is your wandering boy to- 
night? 

Adam and Eve sinned and Cain became a 
murderer. Had they not sinned, Abel would 
have lived. The parents were guilty. 

The wise man said, '^Train up the child." 
You ask, ^^When should we begin?" A great 
writer said: ^^Begin twenty years before the 
child is born. Begin with the mother." But 
you say, "The child is here; when shall we be- 
gin?" I say, '^Begin when it is three weeks 
old." But you explain, *'Oh, you can't make 
any impression upon a baby when it is three 



190 



CHRIST IN THE HOME 191 

weeks old." You walk the floor with it, toss 
it up and down for three hours, and you have a 
three years' contract on your hands. If you can 
make the impression for evil, why not for good? 

Some tell us they do not believe this teach- 
ing. I do. Let me illustrate. There were two 
families. In each family were six children. In 
each family the father and mother belonged to 
the same congregation. In family No. i the 
father was a godly man. He had family pray- 
ers every night, preached the gospel in the com- 
munity, and was faithful in all kinds of church 
work. But he did all the praying, talking and 
reading. He neglected training. In family No. 
2 the father did not pray in public often, not 
as much as he should, but he trained his boys 
and girls. In family No. i three of the children 
went to the bad. In the other family all three 
boys and three girls are Christian workers. You 
can remember many families much like these. 
Train your children. Take them to church and 
let them sit by you. The boy needs the church 
services. But you say, ''Oh, that is Puritanic.'* 
The Puritans gave the world the best manhood 
and womanhood that the world has ever seen. 
About all worth saving in our society to-day is 
Puritanic. 

Our club, lodge, business life, even the 
church life, have ruined our home life. 

We scarcely know our children. A boy was 



192 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

asking his teacher silly questions. The teacher 
said, **Why don't you ask your father these 
questions?'' The boy replied, ^^I am not very 
well acquainted with the old man." 

A mother was gaudily dressed, ready to go 
and preside at the club. Her little boy came 
home from school, and when she tried to make 
him go back he ran under the bed. The mother 
telephoned for the father. When he came 
home, she shouted: *'It is only ten minutes be- 
fore I must preside over the club. Crawl under 
the bed and get that boy out and send him back 
to the school." When the boy saw the father 
coming, he said, ^^Hello, dad! is she after you 
too?" That is the mother that will find fault 
with some girl schoolteacher because she can't 
control fifty bad boys, while the mother can't 
control one boy. Nine-tenths of the bad school 
government originates in bad home government. 

I know there are diflficulties in the way. I 
know mothers who have given up everything to 
try to train their boys in the right way, and 
still they go wrong. I want to point out some 
of these hindrances. 

I. Here is the mother pulling one way, and 
the father pulling the other. The mother 
spends ten hours training the boy for righteous- 
ness, and the father comes home with the fumes 
of whisky on his breath, and with his profanity, 
vulgarity and brutality in one hour ruins all the 



CHRIST IN THE HOME 193 

mother has done in a day. The meanest man 
on earth is the man that pokes fun at the 
religion of his wife, in the presence of the 
children. 

2. Here is another case, not quite so bad, 
but it is a hindrance. The father goes religious- 
ly one way and the mother another way. In 
other words, the mother belongs to one church 
and the father belongs to another. The boy 
can not understand it. He sees the mother and 
the father go to the store, school and lecture, 
but on Sunday the mother goes one way and the 
father another, and the boy goes no way. Who 
can blame the boy? If you want your boy to 
go right, let him sit In the pew with father and 
mother. Jesus never expected the home to be 
divided religiously. 

A lady in Ohio said to me, "Mr. Coombs, 
I belong to one church and my husband belongs 
to another, and we get along elegantly." I re- 
plied, **I don't believe it." She said, ''Oh, really 
we do." I replied, "Really you don't." She be- 
came fussy and I left her. Three days after 
this she asked me to tea. When I came to the 
gate, she met me and said, "Brother, I have one 
request to make." "What is it?" "Do not say 
anything about the church while here." "Why?" 
"Oh, I belong to one church and my husband 
belongs to another and the boys do not belong 
to any, and we are sensitive on the subject of 

13 



194 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

religion. It will cause much annoyance if you 
mention the church/' ^*What did I tell you? 
You know just as well as I do that this is not 
the way to live. You are ruining your boys 
just now.'' Her eyes moistened and we did 
not say one word about religion. 

A preacher said to a little girl, ''Lillian, 
when you join the church what church will you 
join?" She looked at her father, then at her 
mother, who belonged to different churches, 
threw her arms about the mother, kissed the 
father and ran sobbing from the room. She 
could not say the father's church, as that 
would grieve mother, nor the mother's church, 
as that would make father feel bad. 

The only way to train your children right 
religiously is for father, mother and children 
to have a common interest in one church. It 
then is our church, where we all worship. The 
sin of the divided church home is ruining our 
children. 

Neither can the Endeavor society and the 
Sunday school take the place of the regular 
preaching service. There is a solemnity there 
that exists nowhere else, and it is necessary for 
the Christian growth of the body. I pity the 
father who does not make the boy his com- 
panion. Your business life, society and church 
life must not rob you of the companionship of 
your boy. It was said that Pitt the senior had his 



CHRIST IN THE HOME 195 

eye on every man in the empire. During great 
political excitement the members of Parliament 
rushed to the home of Pitt to see why he was 
not at the meeting. They found him down on 
the floor playing marbles with his boy. No 
wonder that Pitt the junior grappled with the 
veterans of Parliament at nineteen and startled 
the world with his eloquence at twenty-one. 
His father gave him his companionship. 

There are fathers who are always an enemy 
of the boy. The Sunday-school bell rings and 
one father says, '^George, get your hat and go 
off to Sunday school.'' The boy goes fishing 
and tells his father that he has been to church. 
The other father says, "George, the Sunday- 
school bell is ringing; let us go." The boy 
gladly accompanies his father. As he looks up 
at his father the boy says, '*My father is the 
grandest man in all this world." When this 
boy is ten years old, and the father says, '*My 
boy, I should like to see you a Christian," he is 
as sure to enter the church as the father trains 
him right. Not one shall be lost. Train up a 
boy in the way he shall go. 

Teach your boys honesty and be honest with 
them. Mothers, teach the children to be honest. 
The bell rings and the mother says to her little 
girl, "Go and tell that man mother is not in." 
The little girl goes to the door and says, 
"Mamma says she is not in this morning." You 



196 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

scold the girl for telling the truth. The next 
day the bell rings and the girl goes to the door 
and says, '^Mamma is not in/' You praise her 
for telling a lie. You say to your daughter: 
**0h, there comes that hateful Mrs. B. and her 
daughter. You go upstairs and stay until they 
leave, and maybe that will teach them some 
sense." The bell rings and you throw open the 
door and say: *'Oh, Mrs. B., I am delighted to 
have you come. My daughter had to be away 
to-day; she will just cry her eyes out when she 
finds you were here. Now you must come 
again, when she is home." After an hour of 
the fraud, hypocrisy and deceit, they arise to 
go. ''Oh, dear, do you have to go so soon? 
Well, be sure to come again. I am verry sorry. 
Good-by." After kisses and palaver, they de- 
part, and you shout, "Daughter, come down; 
the hateful old things have gone." 

A father and mother were trying to de- 
ceive their boy. They wanted to go out riding 
alone. They said, ''Go in and get your other 
liat and then come and go with us." Just as he 
came out with his hat, he saw them turning the 
corner, and shouted, "There go two of the big- 
gest liars in town." 

Your children will imitate you. A mother 
broke a glass by mistake. The next day the lit- 
tle girl got a big spoon and began breaking 
glasses. A boy said, "I swear big like papa.'* 



CHRIST IN THE HOME 197 

The home is the place where love is shut in and 
hate is shut out. Make your home the happiest 
place on earth. 

Cornelia was the most famous woman in 
the Roman Empire. She married a great 
Roman general, yet she was called the daughter 
of Scipio. One day, when she looked down into 
the cradle upon the faces of two boys, she said, 
**Call me no more the daughter of Scipio, but 
the mother of the Gracchi." 

Napoleon said, ^Trance needs mothers." I 
say, "The world needs Christian mothers." 

A boy said to his mother, *^Mother, I want 
to go to church to-night and become a Chris- 
tian." She ridiculed him and sent him to bed. 
The next day she packed his trunk and sent 
him off to college. The first year he learned 
to swear, and the mother's troubles began. The 
second year he came home drunk. The third 
year he had learned to gamble. The fourth 
year he committed a crime and was compelled 
to go West. He became a wanderer and a 
bad man. The mother tried in vain to find him. 
She learned that he had returned to Chicago 
and was a vagabond. To the police and mayor 
she wrote : "I have a prodigal boy in your city. 
If you will find my boy, I will pay you any 
amount. We are rich and he is our only child. 
Hunt my boy. Here is his picture. Tell him I 
have good news for him." After days of 



198 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

search, they found him in a five-cent boarding- 
house. They notified the mother, and after he 
found his mother was coming, he went out to 
Lake Michigan and committed suicide. His 
body was hauled back to Massachusetts for 
burial. While the minister was preaching the 
funeral, the mother's mind gave way. She 
rushed to the coflfin, put her arms around the 
boy and cried, *^0h, I killed my boy, and I fear 
his soul is lost.'' He might have been great in 
law, business or the pulpit if she had not turned 
him wrong at the critical hour. 

I told you of two kinds of fathers; I want 
to tell you of two kinds of mothers, and I am 
through. One mother is always unkind to the 
little girl. The little girl comes in and says, 
"Mamma, can I have some scraps? I want to 
make a dress for my doll." The mother says, 
*'Go away; I can't be bothered with you; it 
takes more clothes for your doll than it does 
for you." The little girl says, '^Nobody loves 
me." 

The other mother is a friend to the little 
girl. She says to her mother, '*Can I have some 
scraps for my doll?" '^Yes, mamma is glad to 
help you." She shows the little girl how to 
make the doll's dress. The little girl goes out 
to her playhouse and says, '^My mamma is the 
best woman in the world." The next day she 
says, *'Mamma, can I have the scissors?" *'In 



CHRIST IN THE HOME 199 

a moment, but before you go let us read a few 
verses from the good Book, the Bible/' After 
reading some nice passages about little girls, the 
mother said, *Xet us pray/' She prayed that 
God would help the little girl and make her a 
good woman. Then she said, ''Now, darling, 
you can have the scissors, but I want you to 
pray often.'' Out In her little playhouse she is 
praying, but what does she say? Listen. ''O 
God, make me good like mamma." 



XVII. 
OUR PLEA 

Man, pendulum-like, swings from extreme 
to extreme. We see this tendency in the in- 
dividual with his hobbies, and trace it in the 
masses with their ever-varying and unreliable 
public opinion. We behold this tendency in 
the rise and fall of religious bodies, in their 
onward sweep across the centuries. In religion 
we are likely to overlook the points of agree? 
ment in our anxiety to find wherein we differ. 
Most of the cardinal points of Christianity are 
held in common by religious bodies. In this 
sermon I desire to state what we believe as a 
people. I shall not attempt to discuss these 
points, but try and state clearly our distinctive 
peculiarities. 

We were sent into the world to restore the 
New Testament church. We were not called 
of God to evangelize the world. We are In- 
tensely evangelistic, because we believe that is 
one of the best ways to preach the truth. But 
others can evangelize; that Is not our mission. 
Other people may build great universities, spend 
millions on the foreign field and erect mighty 

200 



OUR PLEA 201 

temples, but we were sent to unite God's people. 
We were not sent to preach baptism. Others 
can do that. We preach it because we think we 
can never restore New Testament Christianity 
until we have the one baptism. 

JESUS IS THE CHRIST. 

We believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son 
of God, and that he is the Saviour of the world. 
He is the only begotten Son. He is our Lord, 
Saviour, King, Advocate, the Way, the Truth 
and the Life. He is all and in all. In Christ, 
God has said all that he has to say to the race. 
All the evidence is in, and nothing more is to 
be given in this age. He is not only the truth, 
but he is all moral truth. 

DIVISION OF THE BIBLE. 

We believe that the Old and the New Testa- 
ments are both the inspired word of God, but 
that the New Testament is the exclusive book 
of authority. Everything that is necessary for 
the unconverted to do in order to become a 
Christian, and everything that is necessary for 
the Christian to do in order to go to heaven, 
is found in the New Testament. The Jews 
were governed by the law; we by the gospel. 
There is no command binding upon us that is 
not found in the New Testament. 

The old law was nailed to the cross (Col. 



202 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

2 : 14). Our country was once governed by the 
Articles of Confederation, but the Constitution 
supersedes these articles, and they now pos- 
sess no binding force. There are laws now on 
the statute-books of Illinois that are similar to 
some of the colonial laws of Pennsylvania; but 
these laws are binding, not because they are 
found in the dead law of Pennsylvania, but be- 
cause they are re-enacted into the new law of 
Illinois. 

Commandments found in the Old Testament 
are found in the New; but they are binding 
upon us, not because they are found in the Old, 
but because they are re-enacted In the New 
Covenant. 

NO HUMAN CREED. 

We believe that all human creeds and con- 
fessions of faith are wrong and engender strife. 
All creeds have come out of controversy. We 
claim that the Bible alone is sufficient for our 
rule of faith and practice. If the creed contains 
more than is in the Bible, it contains too much; 
if it contains less than is in the Bible, it does not 
contain enough; if it contains just what is in 
the Bible, It Is entirely unnecessary. We go to 
the Bible for our authority In church govern- 
ment, as well as to learn the plan of salvation. 
Whatever the Bible commands us to do, those 
things we do; what the Bible forbids, from 



OUR PLEA 203 

those things we refrain; where the Bible is 
silent, freedom of opinion. To make a creed is 
to belittle the Bible. Hundreds of persons have 
subscribed their names to creeds which they 
never believed. 

THE CONFESSION. 

The divine confession is: *'Jesus is the 
Christ, the Son of God.'* This is the confession 
of Christendom. We do not ask the inquirer 
if he believes in the thirty-nine articles of faith, 
or the five points of Calvinism. Peter made 
this confession when he said: '^Thou art the 
Christ, the Son of the living God*' (Matt. i6: 
i6). Read also Acts 8:36-38; Matt. 10:32; 
Rom. 10: ID. 

THE NAME. 

We teach that the children of God should 
be known simply as Christians, and that the 
church should be called the church of Christ. 
Christ said, ''Upon this rock I will build my 
church." This church, not established when 
Christ spoke, was to be Christ's church. When 
we use the phrase "of Christ" we have used a 
second-class element. We can change that 
second-class element to a first-class and say 
**Christian"; hence the "Church of Christ" and 
"Christian Church" are synonymous. 

When I say the Reformation of Luther, 



204 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

the thought is the same as if I had said the 
Lutheran Reformation. ^^The American Con- 
stitution'' and the ^'Constitution of America" 
mean the same. The '^Church of Christ" and 
'^Christian Church" are the same in thought. 

There is only one true church, and that is 
the church of Christ. It is his church, and 
should be called the church of Christ. The 
followers of Christ should be called Christians. 
Luke says, *'The disciples were first called Chris- 
tians at Antioch." Peter says, ''If any man 
suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, 
but let him glorify God on his behalf" ( i Pet. 
4: 16). The new version renders it "in this 
name." That is, glorify God in the name 
^'Christian." By obeying Christ one becomes 
simply a Christian. Peter makes salvation de- 
pend upon a name (Acts 4: 12). When men 
say there is nothing in a name, they do not mean 
it. Should a preacher baptize a candidate in 
the name of Paul, Luther or Calvin, It would 
not be valid baptism. Names are sacred. What 
would you think of a preacher who would bap- 
tize in the name of Beelzebub? There is some- 
thing in a name. Christ is the Bridegroom. 
The church is the bride. The bride should wear 
the name of the Bridegroom. 

A lady has no right to wear the name of 
her betrothed until the marriage ceremony is 
performed. For her to attempt to live with 



OUR PLEA 205 

him or wear his name before marriage would 
be very objectionable and sinful. But for her 
to refuse to wear his name after marriage 
would be an insult. No one has the right to 
wear the name ^'Christian'' until he is married 
to Christ by complying to the forms of law. 
Equally certain is it that it is an insult to 
Christ for us to wear any party name after 
we have complied with the terms of the gos- 
pel. All party names are sinful. Hear Paul in 
I Cor. i: 12, 13. Hear Luther: **Do not call 
yourselves Lutherans, but call yourselves Chris- 
tians." Hear Wesley: *'I would to God all 
party names were forgotten." We positively 
reject all party names. We desire to be called 
simply Christians. Not the only Christians, but 
Christians only. 

THE CHURCH. 

No one denies that God has founded a gov- 
ernment upon earth called the '^kingdom of 
God," **kingdom of heaven," ^'church of God," 
'^kingdom of God's dear Son," or ''the body of 
Christ." But when this kingdom was estab- 
lished Is in debate. Some say it was established 
before the foundation of the earth; others. In 
the days of Abraham; still others. In the days 
of John the Baptist. In the second chapter of 
Daniel, the prophet describes four universal 
kingdoms. The last of these was certainly the 



206 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

Roman kingdom. Daniel says: *^In the days of 
these kings shall the God of heaven set up a 
kingdom that shall never be destroyed." Now, 
when Daniel spoke, the kingdom was not yet 
established. John came, crying: ^'Prepare, for 
the kingdom is at hand!" Not yet set up. 
Christ said: ''Upon this rock I will build my 
church." The church was not yet founded. 
After Christ was buried, Luke tells us: "Joseph 
waited for the kingdom." It was not yet set 
up. Before his death Jesus taught but little 
about the kingdom. But the forty days between 
his death and ascension he explained to his 
apostles "the things pertaining to the kingdom 
of God"; that is, his future church. Just before 
his departure, his disciples said to him: "Wilt 
thou at this time again restore the kingdom of 
Israel?" The church w^as not yet organized. 
He gave the apostles the commission, and as- 
cended to his Father. About ten days were 
spent in this glorious coronation. Jesus became 
king, and is now ready to rule his kingdom. On 
the day of Pentecost the Spirit came to guide 
the apostles into all truth, the first gospel ser- 
mon was preached and the church founded. 
Prior to this the church was spoken of as in the 
future. Now we hear of the church in existence. 
Immediately (Acts 2:47) the Spirit speaks of 
the church in existence. Great fear came upon 
all the church (Acts 5: 11). 



OUR PLEA 207 

BAPTISM. 

We believe that a penitent believer is the 
only proper subject of baptism. 

That baptism, coupled with faith and re^ 
pentance, is for the purpose of admission of 
the person baptized into the church. 

As to the action of baptism, we believe that 
the immersion of a penitent believer in water, 
in the name of the Father, the Son and the 
Holy Spirit, is Christian baptism. 

All Scriptural references point to immersion. 

1. Jesus was baptized in Jordan (Mark 
1:9). 

2. After his baptism he came up out of the 
water (Matt. 3 : 16). 

3. John baptized In Enon because there was 
much water (John 3: 23). 

4. Baptism represents a birth (John 3:5). 

5. It represents a burial, a resurrection and 
a planting (Rom. 6:4, 5). 

6. The evangelist Philip and the candidate, 
the eunuch, both went down into the water and 
came up out of it. Read Acts 8 : 36-39. 

LORD^S SUPPER. 

We meet on the first day of every week to 
break bread. In doing this we follow the ex- 
ample of the early church (Acts 20: 7). 

This communion was instituted bv the 
Saviour (Luke 22: 19, 20). 



208 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

This communion is an individual matter. 
All Christians have a right to come to this com- 
munion, and a Christian has no right to say 
another Christian shall not eat. We are, there- 
fore, opposed to close communion (i Cor. lo: 
16-21 ; I Cor. II : 22-29). 

CONVERSION. 

We believe in a rational plan of salvation. 
Do what Jesus and the apostles commanded and 
you will be saved. 

We are often asked: Do you believe in heart 
religion? Certainly. If a man's religion is 
not of the heart, it is not the religion of Christ. 
Yet, we do not believe in any mysticism. We 
believe in what the Bible calls heart religion. 

The Bible says that we think and reason 
within our hearts. 

That IS the intellect. 

The Bible says we love and hate within our 
hearts. 

That is the affections. 

It says we purpose within our heart. 

That is the will. 

So when a man is converted he is completely 
changed, in intellect, affections and will. 

Faith changes his way of thinking; repent- 
ance, his will, and baptism, his state, and all 
combined change his relation toward God and 
make him a Christian. To many, conversion 



OUR PLEA 209 

is some mystery that no one can understand. 
Conversion is simply a change. In grammar 
we speak of converting the subject and predi- 
cate, which means that we change their position. 
In logic we convert the terms and premises. If 
we say a man has been converted to prohibition, 
all understand us. But when we say he has 
been converted to Christ, many connect with 
that act the miraculous. 

He who has honestly believed upon the 
Lord, repented of his sins, confessed Christ 
publicly, and been baptized, has put on Christ, 
and hence has been converted. No one need 
wait for a voice from heaven, or a divine call. 
Jesus said, "Come unto me." That is a divine 
call. It is just as divine as if Jesus stood here 
to-day, or as if an angel spoke out of heaven. 
A son quarreled with his father, and went away 
from his father's house. Years passed, when 
the old father wrote: "My son, come home. I 
will give you the old mansion on the hill. 
Mother wants you to come. Inclosed find my 
check for $150. I will make It possible for you 
to come." The son, who had become a drunken 
wretch, was sitting in the shadow of a Western 
hotel when the letter reached him. As he 
read the letter, tears coursed down his cheeks. 
Said he: "Oh, I want to go home. I would 
like to see my father whom I love, but I do 
not know that he wants me to come. True, 

14 



210 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

here is the money. He asks me to come, he 
has made it possible, and says come, but I 
can not trust his word. If I was sure he 
wanted me, I would go. I will go and get 
my friends to petition to father to let me 
come, then I will write him a prayer asking 
him to let me come home.'' He goes to five 
men who write long petitions, then the son 
writes: *Tather, I received your letter. You 
told me to come home, but I pray you to 
let me come." In a few days the letter reaches 
the father. His hand trembles as he breaks 
the seal. The first petition is from a stranger, 
the second and on to the fifth. Then he reads 
the letter from his son, and says: '^Mother, our 
son is either insane or else he mocks our word. 
We told him to come, and now he writes that 
he does not know that we want him to come. 
He does not believe our word." To-day many 
persons, instead of taking Jesus at his word and 
coming at once, are praying God to let them 
come. Others shout and agonize and quarrel 
with God because he does not send convicting 
power, when Jesus said, "Come, for all things 
are now ready." If you believe him, accept 
him at once. 

THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

We believe in the personality of the Holy 
Spirit. He is not an emotion or sentiment, but 



OUR PLEA 211 

a thinking intelligence. He can be grieved, re- 
jected or resisted. He is the third person of 
the Trinity. 

In conversion the Spirit operates through 
the Word. He has told us what to do to be 
saved. God has ordained that the gospel is 
the power of God unto salvation as certainly as 
he has ordained that food must appease hunger. 

WE ARE RIGHT AND CAN NOT BE WRONG. 

The denominations may be right or they 
may be wrong; we are right in doctrine and 
can not be wrong. It may be right or it may be 
wrong to make a human creed. We are right 
in taking the Bible as our rule of faith and prac- 
tice. The creed says the Bible is the last ap- 
peal. We say it is the first and the only appeal. 
It may be right to wear a party name; it may 
be wrong. We are right in wearing the name 
of Christian. If we say to a Methodist brother, 
'*You are not a Baptist; you are not an Advent- 
ist; you are not a Congregationalist," to each 
he will pleasantly say, **No." But if we say, 
**You are not a Christian," he will quickly resent 
it. The name '^Christian" Is not in dispute. All 
wear it willingly. 

If you have a doubt, •^ou^ and not God^ are 
responsible for that doubt. Sprinkling may be 
right (for argument's sake), or it may be 
wrong. All admit immersion is valid baptism. 



212 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

We are right, and can not be wrong in prac- 
ticing only immersion. 

Our whole plea may be summed up in two 
sentences : 

1. The union of all God^s people upon the 
Bible. 

2. A rational plan of salvation. 



XVIII. 
FAITH AND OPINION 

Faith is a matter of divine statement — what 
God says on any question. Opinion is what is 
inferred. One is essential; the other, non- 
essential. Whatever the Bible commands is a 
matter of faith; where it is silent there is free- 
dom of opinion. Our opinions are unimportant, 
God said to Abraham, '*Go and offer Isaac." 
Abraham thought that if he would kill his son, 
God would raise him from the dead. His 
opinion was wrong, but his obedience was right. 
I am not much interested in the different opin- 
ions about baptism. Go on and do what God 
tells you to do. 

Many foolish things have been made tests 
of fellowship. Most of them are mere opinions. 
The kind of clothing — hat or coat — that we 
wear has been made a test of fellowship. The 
nature of our music has been made a test of fel* 
lowship. Feet-washing has been made a test of 
entering into Christ. Even the manner of 
doing it has been made important. 

Churches have been divided upon the dress 
custom. In Pennsylvania one party insisted that 

213 



214 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

it was wrong to wear double buttons, while 
others insisted it was right. So there were sin- 
gle-button Christians and double-button Chris- 
tians, while others declared all buttons pagan 
customs, and would have nothing but hooks and 
eyes. So the third division came — hooks-and- 
eyes Christians. A new church house was built. 
One party wanted to put a weathercock on the 
steeple, while the other insisted on hoisting a 
rooster. They divided, and one had a rooster 
and the other a weathercock. 

Some have made hereditary sin a test of 
fellowship. Of course the Bible says nothing 
about hereditary sin. That is the doctrine of 
the creed. Total depravity has been made an 
essential. You can believe all five points of Cal- 
vinism, or reject all of them, and be saved. 
You can believe in the sleep of the soul, a final 
judgment, the millennial dawn or perfection, 
and be saved. You can reject all of them, as 
the doctrinal schools teach them, and go to 
heaven. You can get to heaven and be opposed 
or in favor of the organ; neither is essential. 

Where the Bible speaks we speak. What- 
ever the Bible commands us to do we do. What 
It commands us not to do we do not. Where 
the Bible is silent we are silent. Many things 
have crept Into our theology that are not found 
in the Bible. Some people actually think these 
things that they hear preached and read in the 



FAITH AND OPINION 215 

creeds are Bible truth. The Bible does not 
teach infant baptism, infant membership, mirac- 
ulous conversion, saved by faith only, and many 
other theories found in human creeds. That 
Jesus is the Son of God, that he died and arose 
from the dead, and that all authority is given 
unto him, are matters of faith. When God 
commands we must ask no questions. It is his 
to command; it is ours to obey. 



XIX. 

FRAGMENTS 

VACANT-LOT EVANGELISM. 

Surely this is a testing-time for our evangel- 
Ism. 

Unless the union meetings are followed by 
clear gospel teaching, they will be our ruin. 
The full gospel can not be preached in a 
union meeting. Men may claim it, but they 
are mistaken. To claim it does not change 
the fact. 

W. T. Brooks, one of our sane men and a 
great preacher, says: **I am glad to get back 
among my own brothers, where I can preach a 
full gospel." 

Roger Fife says: '*No man can preach a full 
gospel in a union meeting." 

After a fair trial, Herbert Yeuell says: 
'*^The gospel in its fullness can not be preached 
in a union meeting." 

Bro. Vawter has gone one beyond my knowl- 
edge, and has found a "vacant-lot" evangelism. 
Vawter finds cards signed with numbers on 
vacant lots. A bunch of politicians was sent to 

216 



FRAGMENTS 217 

the penitentiary because they registered votes 
upon vacant lots. 

In my book on delusions I put this statement 
at the head of the chapter on ^^superstitions": 
**Don't believe all you hear; investigate.'' An 
evangelist stretches the truth many times in his 
lust for numbers. There are two evils that fol- 
low union evangelism: 

I. A liberality among our own people that 
undermines our plea and endangers New Testa- 
ment teaching. I began a meeting in an Eastern 
city where a wild evangelist had turned thou- 
sands to the Lord. Before I had preached one 
sermon, an elder introduced an M. E. preacher 
to me, and said: *'Here is one of our preachers, 
a good Methodist. We have grown broad in 
the last six weeks, and the brother has come to 
help you conduct the meeting. I trust nothing 
will be said that will mar the sweet fellowship 
that exists.'' He was broader than the New 
Testament. But that sweet fellowship did not 
prevent one of the preachers from making a 
bitter attack upon our teaching, and persuading 
some of our members to take membership in his 
big church. 

We have some people — preachers — who are 
for compromise. They welcome the meetings 
that preach a liberal gospel. They favor ad- 
mitting to their congregations those who have 
not been baptized. They therefore urge the 



218 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

liberal meetings, and preaching that does not 
preach. I once rejoiced that some of our 
preachers had been called to hold union meet- 
ings. After following five union meetings held 
by one evangelist, I am sure every one of them 
weakens the faith of many of our people, and 
does more real harm to our cause than when 
conducted by a denominational evangelist. 

2. A false doctrine touching conversion. In 
my life I have seen three phases of evangelism. 
In the first, ecstasy played havoc. I have seen 
twenty people lying unconscious on the floor. 
To speak against that evangelism was to be 
condemned as a heretic. Then came the mourn- 
ers'-bench revival. Shouting and excitement 
characterized these meetings. For one hundred 
years we struggled to check this fanaticism, and 
to teach that a man was not converted because 
he swooned. We showed that conversion was a 
process, and not emotion. But when we denied 
that a man was converted because he became 
excited to frenzy, we were charged with fighting 
against God. It was unpopular to oppose these 
meetings. They were then thought to be mani- 
festations of God's power. 

We are now in another form of revivalism. 
It IS a hand-clapping, card-signing revivalism. 
A man was not converted because he went into 
ecstasy, neither is a m.an converted because he 
comes forward, cheered on by laughter and 



FRAGMENTS 219 

hand-clapping, and signs a card. Yet it is very 
unpopular to teach that these men who come 
forward under these circumstances are not con- 
verted. We hear it said, ''One thousand con- 
verted in one day,'' when there was not one con- 
vert. We may have to spend a quarter of a 
century to correct this false card-signing, vacant- 
lot revivalism. 

PROOF FURNISHED PROVED. 

Some time ago, in a note to the Standard, 
I said that forty of our preachers, filling the pul- 
pits of some of our large churches, were in 
favor of admitting the unimmersed to the fel- 
lowship of the local congregations. I based my 
conclusions upon the articles that appeared In 
the Century on the questionnaire, ''Did the Berk- 
eley Church do wrong in admitting the unbap- 
tized?" and in conversation and private corre- 
spondence with these men. This raised the cry, 
^'Furnish proof." In my rejoinder I quoted 
thirty men. These quotations were exact. I 
did not quote some of the most radical things 
some of them said. Many of them are my 
friends. I merely quoted to classify them. 

An avalanche of protest came. Some said: 
*'Surely you misunderstand these brothers." 
The whole matter can easily be settled. Let 
any or all of them say, "I am not in favor of 
admitting the unimmersed into the fellowship 



220 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

of the local congregation.'' That will settle the 
whole affair. But here I will prophesy that not 
three will say it. They have gone on record ih 
private conversation and in letters. They can 
not escape now, unless they repent and return 
to the divine teaching contained in the New 
Testament. 

Of the letters that I have received most of 
them comment highly, some condemn severely, 
while others state that the publicity is unwise. 
One brother, whose fine judgment I respect 
highly, says: ''This questionnaire had no great 
notoriety. It was read only by a few." But 
this discussion was sent to every college, and its 
merits were discussed by students and teachera 
everywhere. Those who criticize generally sput- 
ter, and don't argue. You can turn a lamp up 
so high that it gives no light — it sputters. Many 
preachers, instead of arguing a question, turn 
their lamp of contention up so high that it sput- 
ters. 

Among the many protests, the most severe 
comes from California, where their religion Is 
as restless as the ocean that washes their shores. 
These critics say: ''You read out of the church 
all who do not agree with you; you say no one 
IS a Christian unless he belongs to the church 
to which you belong." These loose-thinking 
people never can learn that there is a spiritual 
house that we call the church. When I spoke 



FRAGMENTS 221 

of the church of Christ I never referred to this 
current Reformation, to that band of one mil- 
lion and a half Christians only. I referred to 
the church that was constituted on the day of 
Pentecost. To that church belonged Philip, 
Stephen, Polycarp, TertuUian, and all the peo- 
ple in all ages who have been adopted into 
Christ. In that church are all who are in 
Christ This church is the body of Christ, the 
family of God, a spiritual house, the kingdom 
of his dear Son and the bride of the Redeemer. 
There never was a Christian on earth that was 
not in the body of Christ, the church. Paul 
realized that to persecute the church was to per- 
secute Christ No one who reasons will ever 
separate the church from the Christ With this 
understanding of the subject, any one that knows 
the Scriptures will admit that a man can not be 
a Christian without belonging to the church of 
Christ — the church universal. It seems impos- 
sible for some people to think only as they think, 
through the head of Rome. They can not think 
of the church only as they see it in organization 
and with officers. 

The church universal has no abiding-place 
on earth. It can not assemble, transact business 
or act authoritatively. It is a spiritual house- 
hold. The local congregation is entirely a dif- 
ferent body. It has officers and can transact 
business. When I use the phrase, ''the church 



222 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

of Christ/' I use it referring to God's people — 
all who have obeyed him in all ages. Try and 
think of the church free from all denomination- 
alism. 

If one thousand men and women in India 
should obey the gospel message, and meet for 
worship and work, they constitute the church of 
Christ worshiping there. They are members of 
the church of Christ. Because they are mem- 
bers of Christ's church only, they do not read 
other Christians out of the church. If one-half 
of them depart and take a party name, the five 
hundred remaining are still Christians only, and 
belong to Christ's church. If millions of relig- 
ious people wear denominational names — Cath- 
olics, Lutherans and Universalists — that does 
not hinder us from wearing the name *'Chris- 
tian" and belonging to Christ's church. The 
five hundred who took a party name may still be- 
long to the church of Christ, but they wear two 
names and hold membership in two bodies. 
They are bi-religionists. 

I have no sympathy with these men who are 
always talking about the pious unimmersed and 
the unpious immersed. Why praise either? We 
came to this world to defend, exalt and encour- 
age the pious immersed. I am not in sympathy 
with that other sentiment that speaks of the 
pious unimmersed Christians and the immersed 
hypocrites. Such language borders on bias- 



FRAGMENTS 223 

phemy. We came to call men to Christ, and 
when they come to him they are right in obedi- 
ence and right in life both. Some, in their con- 
tention, seem to convey the idea that the pious 
unimmersed are more spiritual than the obedi- 
ent. This sentiment is false and sinful. The 
most spiritual and godly people on earth are 
those who have obeyed Him, and who humbly 
bow to his authority. 

There is not a band of people on earth more 
pious, spiritual and godly than that company of 
people that wears no name but Christian and 
belongs to no church but Christ's. Oh, that 
our speakers in conventions and congresses 
would exalt our plea instead of belittling it! 
It is said that one of our speakers in Chicago 
proclaimed that the unpious immersed were as- 
sociate members, while the pious unimmersed 
were the regular members. Who said that? 
Shall we trust our millions in the hands of such 
irreverent men? We come not to defend the 
unpious immersed nor the pious unimmersed. 
Both are wrong. We come to defend the posi- 
tion that a man must be right in form and in 
life, right in obedience and right in character. 

It is a question whether a man can be 
spiritual who has not obeyed the Spirit's com- 
mands. To manifest the spirit of an American 
does not make one a citizen of the United 
States. He must be adopted. He manifests 



224 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

the Spirit of Christ best who obeys him. Cor- 
nelius was a pious unimmersed man, but he was 
not a Christian. The angel, the preacher and 
God took part in changing this man, who was 
right in life — as the world calls right — from a 
pious unimmersed Gentile to a pious immersed 
Christian. We want men who are right in life 
and right in obedience; men who will speak 
well of the obedient in Christ and quit flirting 
with the unimmersed. 

The church is Christ's body. All Chris- 
tians are in his body — the church. Does any 
one deny this proposition? I do not admit that 
all the people in the religious denominations 
are Christians ; nor do I admit that all religious 
denominations are churches of Christ. In the 
denominations are Christians, but that does not 
make that body the church of Christ. There 
are Christians in the Endeavor societies, but the 
Endeavor societies do not constitute the church. 
I never talked to a man for a minute on this 
subject but that he admitted that somewhere we 
must draw the line, and say: '^This religious 
body is not the church of Christ." We must 
draw the line between the Jewish assembly and 
the church of Christ. 

Can a man be a Christian without belonging 
to the body of Christ? No. Can he be a 
Christian without belonging to the Hindoo 
Church? Yes. Can he be a Christian without 



FRAGMENTS 225 

belonging to the church of Christ? No. Can 
he be a Christian without belonging to the 
Mohammedan Church? Yes. Therefore the 
Mohammedan Church, as such, is not the church 
of Christ. Can a man be a Christian without 
belonging to the Mormon Church, Christian 
Science Church or Unitarian Church? Yes. 
Then these religious societies are not, per se, 
the church of Christ. Can a man be a Christian 
without belonging to the M. E. Church? Yes. 
They admit it. The M. E. Church, per se, is 
not the church of Christ. Within that congre- 
gation of one thousand there may be six 
hundred obedient people, hence six hundred 
Christians. If these six hundred obedient be- 
lievers withdraw from that society, the candle- 
stick would be removed, and the four hundred 
left behind would not constitute the church. 
We can not admit to fellowship those whom 
Jesus has not already admitted to his body — 
the church. 

THE CIRCLE SERMON. 

I use this circle Illustration to refute the 
fallacy that the denominations are churches of 
Christ. He who claims that all the denomina- 
tions are churches of Christ will somewhere 
draw the line himself. The church Is used in 
two senses In the New Testament — the church 
universal and the local congregation. Now, is 
the Catholic Church the church universal? No. 

15 



226 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

Is It a local congregation? No. Was it the 
church of Christ that murdered fifty millions of 
Christians in the Middle Ages? No. It was 
the Catholic hierarchy, not the church. All 
denominations are human organizations. Sup- 
pose five hundred men hear the gospel preached 
and accept it and put on Christ. What are 
they? Christians. They are in the large cir- 
cle and in Christ's church. Suppose one hun- 
dred go out and organize a Lutheran church, 
what are they now? They are Christians, of 
course, and in Christ's church. They are in 
the small circle, but also in the large circle. 
Suppose one hundred attach themselves to these 
hundred Christians, but refuse to obey the gos- 
pel; what is the result? They are merely 
Lutherans, and in the outside of the little circle 
only, but not in the big circle. Now what have 
you? Some who are Christians only, some who 
are Christians and Lutherans, and some Luther- 
ans only. Some are in the Lutheran Church 
only, outside of the small circle ; some in the Lu- 
theran Church and in the church of Christ both, 
while others are In the Lutheran Church only. 
Therefore the Lutheran Church, per se, is not the 
church of Christ. I am indebted to J. W. Hols- 
apple for this arrangement. 

The large circle represents the church, 
within which are all of God's children. The 
smaller circles represent the denominations, 




FRAGMENTS 227 

whose members may or may not be in the king- 
dom. Those who have complied with God's 

law of adoption 
are in his king- 
dom because of 
said compliance, 
while those who 
have not com- 
plied therewith 
may be members 
of a denomina- 
tion, though not 
in the church. 
These latter are 
represented by the dots within the smaller cir- 
cles, but without the larger one; the former 
by the dots within the larger circle, whether 
within or without the smaller ones. By erasing 
the smaller circles you destroy no part of the 
kingdom of God, but remove the barriers which 
separate God's children. The principal purpose 
of the Restoration movement is to eliminate 
from the kingdom of God all non-essentials, 
and, indeed, everything which would in any way 
hinder the fullest and freest fellowship among 
its citizens. 

THE INTERPOLATION FALLACY. 

By interpolation we mean inserting spurious 
passages into manuscripts or books. The words 

16 



228 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

have been inserted by mistake or by fraud. 
Whenever the schools of the new learning come 
to passages that interfere with their fallacious 
interpretation, they set them aside by the con- 
venient word ^interpolation." When asked to 
explain how these passages were inserted, they 
tell us copyists inserted them. They tell us it 
is easy to make mistakes. It is easy to omit. 
It is difficult to insert. Again, when some pas- 
sage interferes with their vanity, they say flip- 
pantly: ''This is unlike Jesus. He never said it. 
It is an interpolation." 

A man who spent many years copying court 
records said: *'In copying records, a few times 
I repeated sentences and often omitted words, 
but not once did I insert a passage or word. It 
would have been impossible to have inserted 
new sentences by mistake. To insert passages 
on purpose would have been criminal." To 
omit words would have been easy. 

Some critics reject Matt. 28: 18-20; Mark 
16:15-19; John 3:5; John 8:7-11, and other 
passages, as spurious. They conclude that be- 
cause some manuscripts do not contain them, 
they are spurious. Suppose we have two hun- 
dred manuscripts: One hundred contain certain 
passages and one hundred omit them. What 
would be the conclusion of all unbiased critics? 
Assuredly they would say, *'These passages 
have been omitted from the m.anuscripts ; and 



FRAGMENTS 229 

not inserted into the one hundred that contain 
them." 

It is easy to omit. It is difficult to insert. 
Suppose we find a few copies of the Constitution 
that do not contain Article V., while many 
other copies do contain this article. We would 
conclude that the printers had omitted the ar- 
ticle, and not that it had been inserted into the 
other copies, either by mistake or purposely. 
We have hundreds of manuscripts, some orig- 
inal Greek ones, that contain the great consti- 
tution of the church — the commission. This 
commission has been with us for fifteen hundred 
years. Early Christians quoted it and manu- 
scripts contained it. Immediately after the 
church was constituted the apostles began to 
proclaim the commands in the commission. 
They said, '^Believe, repent, be baptized." They 
obtained their authority from the commission 
given to them by Jesus. 

If not from Christ, whence came the com- 
mission? Would any interpolator be so pre- 
sumptuous as to say, "All authority is given 
unto me"? If it had been an interpolation, it 
would have been detected at once. Some tell 
us it came about because the Scriptures were in 
fragments, and gathered up by compilers. 
But who originated the words, **Go into all the 
world and preach the gospel"? If in a frag- 
ment, whence the fragment? These advanced 



230 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

thinkers, who think themselves out of the New 
Testament, reject the virgin birth, because to 
them it is not reasonable. The prophet says 
Christ was to be born of a virgin. Matthew and 
Mark say he was born of a virgin. John says 
he is the only begotten Son. If these four wit- 
nesses are not to be credited on the birth of 
Christ, why accept them on the resurrection? 

Jesus gave the great commission. To de- 
stroy it is to destroy Christianity. Skeptics may 
assault it and schools of philosophy may reject 
it, but it will stand. Do not worry because 
scholarship rejects Jesus. It always did. It 
was the schools of learning that shouted, '*Away 
with him! Crucify him!" It was the philoso- 
phers who tried to find out God by reason that 
hindered the advance of Christianity. It is the 
great schools of learning that say Christianity 
is a failure, and university men who ridicule 
faith and declare for trial marriage and other 
follies. In order to learn divine truth, any one 
must sit at the feet of Jesus. Presumptuous 
scholarship will not do it. The scholar has no 
pre-eminence over the common man. AH must 
sit at Jesus' feet in order to learn of him. 

WE MUST GO V^HERE THE DENOMINATIONS 

ARE THICKEST. 

God called Luther to preach to the Cath- 
olics. He went where the Catholics were the 



FRAGMENTS 231 

thickest. He would have been a recreant if he 
had gone only where the Catholics were too 
weak to care for the religious interests. He 
might have started a mission in Finland or or- 
ganized a Lutheran church in Morocco, but he 
was not called to do that. He was called to re- 
form Catholicism, and, if possible, destroy it. 

John Wesley was called of God to reform 
the Episcopalians. He must go to them and 
where they were thickest. If he had federated 
with them, the great wave of Methodist enthusi- 
asm and prayer would never have started. 

Just as sure as Luther was sent to the Cath- 
olics, and Wesley to the Episcopalians, we are 
called of God to preach to the denominations. 
We must go where they are the thickest. To 
federate means stagnation and the disappearing 
of our plea. We must not stand with them, but 
preach to them. We must place the ax at the 
root of the tree of denominationalism, and never 
cease chopping till the old tree falls and decays. 

If there is a town of five hundred people 
with one church, and another town of the same 
size with five churches, we must go where the 
five are. It is overchurched, and we must go 
to eliminate. The one church can take care of 
the religious interests better than the five can. 
One boil on the body is better than five. 

In my early days of evangelism I went to a 
town of six hundred people, where there were 



232 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

seven church houses. The cry came from every 
corner, *'We have too many churches now." 
One of our district ojflficers said: *^You have zeal 
without knowledge. Let these people alone." 
That preacher soon abandoned us. I preached 
but three weeks, and about sixty people became 
Christians and became members of Christ's 
church. Two years ago I was in the same town. 
There are but two church houses in that town 
now. There are twice as many members in the 
church of Christ in that town this day as there 
were in all seven churches before primitive 
Christianity entered there. We have a fine 
church house that seats six hundred people, and 
a Sunday school of four hundred. We are 
working and praying that soon there will be 
but one church. 

I am afraid that some of our secretaries 
have not caught that vision. Some of them 
lament because we go where the denominations 
can care for the religious interests. They ridi- 
cule because six or eight brethren plead for help. 
They say: '^Worship with these good Christian 
people where you are. We have great interests 
elsewhere. We must go to that unchurched 
community." But God called us to preach to 
the denominations. Peter went where the Jews 
were the thickest. If Judaism was a sin then, it is 
a sin now. Every Advent has gone back to 
Jewish worship, hence fallen from grace, and 



FRAGMENTS 233 

Christ will profit them nothing. Think of John 
T. Johnson, Walter Scott or Alexander Camp- 
bell refusing to preach where the denominations 
were able to care for the religious interests. 
They never talked about eliminating some of 
our weak congregations because they were not 
remunerative. We should increase congrega- 
tions, and not decrease them. Peter was sent 
to preach to the Jews, and Paul to the Gentiles, 
Luther to the Catholics, Wesley to the Episco- 
palians, and we are called of God to preach to 
the denominations. Go where they are the 
thickest. 



XX. 

ILLUSTRATIONS AND SAYINGS 

In concluding this volume I give a few illus- 
trations. In the sermons and lectures are many 
illustrations, and they are of much higher value 
when they are in the body of the sermon, and 
teach the lesson under consideration much bet- 
ter than when alone. An illustration standing 
alone is of little value. The illustration must 
clinch the point. One illustration to the point is 
worth one hundred used in a random way. 
Some preachers overillustrate. They use the 
scissors too much and brain too little. Think 
more; clip less. Too many illustrations encum- 
ber and confuse. Draw your illustrations largely 
from your own life, but tell the truth about 
them. 

In presenting these few illustrations, I get 
most of them out of my own experiences. Others 
I have been using for twenty years, and have no 
knowledge where I got them. Some of them I 
have made my own by remodeling and elimina- 
ting. Some illustrations that fill six or eight 
pages in some book, I cut down to a few sen- 
tences. Tedious illustrations should be left in 

234 



ILLUSTRATIONS AND SAYINGS 235 

the story-books. A good illustration used in 
the wrong place has compelled preachers to 
resign. 

What is said here will apply with equal 
force to evangelist, minister and all Christians. 

I. The evangelist should not do anything in 
the present that may react against him or the 
church in the future. Present effects and little 
triumphs in trivial affairs may gratify vanity, 
but reaction will come. There are victories 
more terrible than defeat; successes worse than 
failures; and there are brilliant devils that daz- 
zle the world as well as brilliant heroes. 

Many foolish things have been said and 
done under emotionalism that have shamed 
honest men. Excess in feeling and speech has 
made the simple gospel ludicrous to the thinking 
people. It is easy to influence the young under 
intense excitement. It is easy to gather a hun- 
dred children together, tell touching stories, and 
get them to do almost anything. Ask all to 
hold up their hands that want to go to heaven, 
and all will act in concert. Then tell all to 
stand who want to obey Jesus. Nearly all will 
do this. Now, that method is not honest. I 
believe In evangelizing among the children, but 
It must be a concerted action among preacher, 
evangelist and parent. A quiet, serious conver- 
sation with children, explaining to them what it 
means to be a Christian, is far better. It is 



236 THE" CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

unfortunate In the Christian life not to be able 
to point back to the time when you gave your 
heart willingly to the Lord. 

What is true of children is true of adults. I 
can deliver a sermon at a Y. M. C. A. meeting, 
and get nearly all present to stand up for the 
Lord, as the phrase, so often used, expresses it. 
Not one in ten has any clear opinion of what 
he is doing. Much of this playing at confession 
reacts against Christian work. To call these 
people converts is to misstate the truth, and to 
injure the seeker in his efforts to become a 
Christian. 

2. All coarse, silly and irreverent language 
should be avoided. Some of the language and 
illustrations used by some evangelists at men's 
meetings are disgraces. Leave these things to 
teachers, parents and physicians. Let your lan- 
guage be chaste. I have heard the vulgar street 
rabble repeating the filthy jokes heard at a 
men's meeting. These meetings lower and 
cheapen religion. The Christianity of Christ is 
clean. By telling some vulgar joke you may 
hear the rabble laugh In derision, but you have 
not pointed any one to Jesus. 

3. Illustrations, anecdotes and wit have their 
place In evangelism, but they may be used in 
such a manner as to do harm. 

( I ) The Illustration should be dignified and 
chaste. 



ILLUSTRATIONS AND SAYINGS . 237 

(2) The joke should teach a truth. To tell 
a story for the sake of the story is unpardon- 
able. Wit at the beginning of a sermon, in 
order to get attention, and make plain the 
theme, is proper; but when you come to the last 
appeal, frivolity and mirth must give way to 
earnestness and solemnity. Sing in lofty strains. 

4. Illustrations are valuable. The best illus- 
trations are found in the Bible. A Bible story 
never grows old. A passage of Scripture, in 
explaining the illustration, adds force. Biogra- 
phy and history furnish a rich field for illustra- 
tion. 

Let your illustrations be true to history. 
You may tell the story of William Tell, Poca- 
hontas, or the battle of Thermopylae, without 
discussing the facts of these stories. It is his- 
torically true to relate them. But if one says 
that the battle of Issus was fought in Egypt 
200 A. D., he is historically wrong. I heard an 
orator give an incident in the life of Douglas, 
under Grant^s administration, Douglas had 
been dead many years. I heard an evangelist 
tell the story of the lost ship, "Central 
America," and he was incorrect as to place, 
time and results. Be accurate. 

The preaching of the evangelist should be 
of a high moral tone. His preaching should 
elevate the speech, tastes and deportment of 
the people who hear him. Sit at the feet of 



238 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

Jesus, and learn of him; then your conversation 
will be pure, loving and elevating. Your hear- 
ers will know that you have been with Jesus. 

ILLUSTRATIONS 

IT IS A GREAT PRIVILEGE TO BE A CHRISTIAN. 

1. To be a Christian is the grandest privilege 
allotted to men. I would rather be a Christian 
than be Governor or President. When I was a 
young man I went to Illinois and took sick. 
There was not one person in the town that I 
knew. I was a stranger in a strange land. I 
heard the doctors talking about me. They said, 
**It is a very bad case." They thought I was 
sleeping. As they left the room I heard Dr. 
Shepherd say to one of the students, '*It is a 
dangerous case." I turned my face to the wall 
and sobbed myself to sleep. I heard my door 
open. I was too tired and sick to move. Finally 
I felt two hands placed on my face, and I heard 
these words, *^Is this Brother Coombs?" Oh, 
how sweet that word '^brother" sounded, in that 
supposed dying-hour. I replied that that was 
my name. He then, in a low, deep voice, said: 
"I am Elder John Darst. You are my brother, 
and I have come to care for you." When we 
are going through the dark valley, Jesus will 
lighten the way and say: **I am your Elder 
Brother. I will take care of you." 

2. When I was a mere lad my mother came 



ILLUSTRATIONS AND SAYINGS 239 

to me and saId:*'They are trying to take the old 
farm away from us. I must go to Lebanon and 
see if I can save it. You stay at home and keep 
things straight." She had not been gone but a 
few moments until I saw the leaves on fire. I 
knew in a short time the fire would reach the 
fields, and our wheat, oats and gardens would 
be destroyed unless the fire was put out. Bare- 
headed and barefooted, I fought that fire until 
my hands were blistered and my feet bleeding. 
I finally put it out, and on my way to the house 
I saw the cattle had torn away the fence and 
were in the field destroying the corn. I worked 
two hours more, and when I had rebuilt the 
fence I went to the house and lay down in the 
summer kitchen and fell asleep. It was night 
when mother came home. She called, but I 
was sound asleep. She found me and said, 
**What have you been doing since I left?" I 
was a little afraid she would think I had not 
been faithful. But when I told her of the 
struggles I had made, I saw tears in her eyes, 
and she said gently, *'You have done well, my 
child." Oh, if faithful, when we get up yonder, 
Jesus will lovingly say, "You have done well, 
my child." 

3. A Roman embassador carried a message 
to a rebellious king. The king hesitated. The 
embassador drew a circle around him in the sand 
and said, ''Decide before you pass out of this 



240 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

Circle." The king dallied no longer. Will you 
decide while you read this article? You have 
dallied, hesitated and quibbled long enough. 
Decide now. To refuse to accept Jesus is to 
decide against him. Why should you hesitate 
whether you will spend eternity in heaven or be 
banished from the presence of God forever? 
Oh, friend, come to Christ. Then you will be 
safe now and safe in eternity. The joy-bells of 
heaven will ring if you will decide for Christ. 

WE WILL SING THE NEW SONG. 

4. I went into the forest one morning before 
daylight. Everything was as still as death, not 
even a leaf stirring. Then far away I heard a 
little twitter. Then a bird in the treetop sang 
out sweetly. This woke up another, and that, 
another. Finally the choral outburst came, and 
the whole forest was full of sweet melody. 
We have heard a few feeble notes in evangel- 
ism. Here, fifty; there, one hundred, and again 
a thousand, have come to Christ. But the great 
shout of victory has not yet come. But it will 
come when all of God's people are one, and the 
only test of admission into Christ Is a complete 
surrender to our Lord and Master. Then thou- 
sands will sing the new song. 

THE ''royal CHARTER." 

5. We read the story of that ship, the ''Royal 
Charter," that touched in every harbor on earth. 



ILLUSTRATIONS AND SAYINGS 241 

It had gone around the world and was now 
crossing the sea from Queenstown to Liverpool. 
It had cruised for six years and is now in sight 
of home. Six hundred were on board. When it 
passed the curve it ran upon the breakers and 
went to the bottom of the sea. Dr. Taylor, the 
preacher, was asked to break the sad news to 
the captain's wife. When he rang the bell the 
little girl sprang into his arms and shouted, 
*Tapa!papa!" 

**I am not your father; this is the preacher. 
I have come to see your mother." 

^*0h. Doctor, you must stay for dinner. 
Have you heard the news? The 'Royal Char- 
ter' is in sight, and father is coming home." 

Just at that moment the mother came out 
and shouted: '*Dr. Taylor, have you heard the 
news? The 'Royal Charter' is in, and my hus- 
band will be here in a moment." She gazed 
down the street to see him. 

Then Dr. Taylor said: ''Madam, the 'Royal 
Charter' has gone to the bottom of the sea. 
All are lost. Your husband is gone." 

She gave one cry and swooned. They 
worked with her two hours, and when she came 
to consciousness she cried: "Oh, so near home, 
and yet lost!" 

That IS the condition of many men and 
women. So near the kingdom, and yet lost. 

If a man rejects Jesus, he rejects his 



242 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

divinely appointed King. I charge him with 
high treason against his divinely anointed King. 
If you are out of Christ, you are a traitor to 
your Lord. 

EASY TO BE A CHRISTIAN. 

6. It is easier to be a Christian than it is to 
be a sinner. It is easier to do right than it is to 
do wrong. Go to that man in the gutter. Ask 
him if it is easy to be a servant of sin. He will 
say, *'No; I am now suffering the torments of 
hell." Ask this old saint who has served Jesus 
fifty years if Jesus is a hard Master. He will 
tell you that Jesus is an easy Master. 

GOOD WELL. 

7. When Mrs. Coombs and I went to house- 
keeping we rented a house, and the owner said 
there was a good well on the place. It was a 
good well, but it had two defects: It went dry 
in the summer and froze up in the winter. It 
was a good well, but we could get no water 
out of it. There are some people who are 
good, but we can not get any service out of 
them. They are so good that they are good 
for nothing. 

CLASSIC SINGERS. 

8. If Peter on Pentecost had secured a clas- 
sic singer from Greece, a quartet of Pharisees 
and a chorus of Sadducees, no one would have 



ILLUSTRATIONS AND SAYINGS 243 

cried, **What must I do?'* An invitation on 
that day sung to the tune, 'When the Swallows 
Homeward Fly,'' would not have made Pente- 
cost heroic. 

GREEDY FOR HELL. 

9. Some people seem to be greedy for hell. 
They are not willing to let time take them 
down to a rich old age, but they are wearing 
out their bodies in sin. 

Young man, with vile companions, a bottle 
of whisky and a dashing automobile, you may 
get to hell quicker, but when you get there you 
will not enjoy it any better than if you had 
walked. 

YOU HAVE DONE WELL. 

10. The steamer ^Xady Elgin" was wrecked 
in a storm on Lake Michigan. Among those 
who went to the rescue was a student named Ed. 
Spencer. Returning to the vessel again and 
again, he brought seventeen people to safety. 
Weary with cold and exposure, he fell exhausted 
on the shore. Loving hands carried him to the 
college and worked to restore consciousness. 
With the return of his reason his fellow-students 
began to praise him and rejoice over the won- 
derful work he had done in rescuing so many 
from the wreck. With tears he answered: 
**Don't, boys, don't praise; just tell me: did I 



244 THE CHRIST OF THE CHURCH 

do my best?" In this Christian warfare let 
every Christian do his best. 

THE MAN WHO SINGS PRAYER-MEETING BASS. 

Now, please understand me, 

He's a very good man, 
Always right there in his place ; 

And sings with a spirit — 

So say all who hear it — 
But still it's just prayer-meeting bass. 

If a repeat he should try 

Like the "Sweet By and By,'' 
He comes down like a horse in a race; 

If he misses a tone, 

He makes one of his own. 
And fills in with prayer-meeting bass. 

He does not even shirk 

To do solo work 
In a pinch, as is often the case; 

When our paid basso strikes. 

And in a huff off he hikes, 
We fall back on our prayer-meeting bass. 

Then, when fails charming Anna, 

He takes up soprano. 
And sings till he's red in the face; 

If his tones are quite flat, 

We know right where he's at. 
And swear by our prayer-meeting bass. 

When he reaches the gate 

Where St. Peter doth wait. 
He'll be quickly assigned to a place; 

Not a doubt or a fear — 

His title is clear — 
He'll win out with his prayer-meeting bass. 

— Isabella Mc Arthur. 



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